The Rev. Oliver Arnold, first rector of Sussex, N.B., with some account of his life, his parish and his successors and the old Indian College

| THE REY. OLIVER ARNOLD,

FIRST RECTOR OF SUSSEX, N.B.,
Some Account of His Life,
His Parish, and His Successors,

AND THE

“OLD INDIAN COLLEGE.

By LDP ONARD -ALLISON,.B. A.,

BARRISTER, &c., SUSSEX, N. B.

"WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR.

SAINT JOHN, N. B.
THE SUN PRINTING CO., ane. CANTERBURY STREET.
1892.

THE REY. OLIVER ARNOLD,

bie tie CRO Ob SU S5 2c Ne B.,

WITH

Some Account of His Life,
His Parish, and His Successors,

AND THE

OLD INDIAN COLLEGE.

BY LEONARD ALLISON, B.4A.,
BARRISTER, &c., SUSSEX, N. B.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR.

‘' Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year 1892, by Leonard
Allison, B. A., at the Department of Agriculture.’’

SAINT JOHN, N. B.:
THE SUN PRINTING CO:., LTD.) CANTERBURY STREET.
1892.

hats ( aft in 4

ir, ee ed v, é _ —
i“. ;

«ee
oad ;

Digitized by the Internet Archive ~
in 2024 with funding from
University of Toronto

https://archive.org/details/revoliverarnoldfOOalli

SABISTON PH

REV. OLIVER ARNOLD.

REV. OLIVER ARNOLD,

The First Rector of The Parish of Sussex, with Some Account of
His Life, His Successors, &c.

BY LEONARD ALLISON, B. A., SUSSEX, N. B.

No excuse need in these days be offered
for the study of history. In all ages of the
world and in all departments of human ac-
tivity some knowledge of the past has
proved requisite to a correct apprehension
and full enjoyment of the present,as well as
to a sagacious forecast of and a wise provi-
sion for the future; and none of the sisters
nine has now more votaries than Clio. Not
oply are the great heroes who lived before
Agamemnon forever lost to us because they
lacked a sacred bard to sing their story,
but the genius of the historian bas fre-
quently won more lasting renown than the
greatest exploits of thcse he celebrated,
Homer,who sang of heroes, Thucydides the
philosophical, Livy with his ‘‘pictured
page,” Tacitus with his terse and thrilling
tales, Gibbon the great, and Macaulay the
mapy-sided have thus secured fame that
shall perish only with the languages in
which they wrote.

The historical picture, however, like any
other, requires both proportion and per-
spective, and background as well as _fore-
ground. In some degree the importance of
an event varies directly with the length of
time since it occurred. The happenings of
yesterday are no less history than those of
a hundred years ago; but we cannot always
get up high enough above the bustle and
routine of every day life to estimate aright
the relative value of things, or distinguish
the wholly transient from the comparatively
eternal. The fellow fooling on the fence
sees straighter sometimes than the farmer
following the furrow. Thus is it that the
greatest writers have rarely been the first
delvers in their particular field. General-
ization and analysis and philosophical de-
duction imply facts and premises, to gather
and arrange which is the humbler office of
the oft-forgotten toiler.

But though the time has not yet come for

writing a history of Surrex, or perhaps
of this Frovince; -while it is not
proposed to trace, much Jess philogsophize
upen, the causes of the American revolu-
tion, or to assign the exact proportions in
which a few shortsighted old men in Eng-
land anda few hotheaded young men in
America were respectively responsible for
that event of far-reaching and daily in-
creasing importance; itis conceived to be
time, and high time, to collect some materi-
als from which the history of this locality
may hereafter be constructed; to gather
from provircial archives and county re-
corde, from femily Bibles and tombstones,
from crumpled letters end time-stained
journals, and by the fitful and uncertain
light of local tradition, who and what man-
ner of men they were that, having resisted,
often unto blood, striving against what they
considered sin, abandoned both friends and
property to hew out for themselves a home
in a howling and desolate wilderness. Many
causes have combined to render their me-
morials few and scanty. But a emall pro-
portion of them had what we would call
an education; they had just parted in
anger trom kith and kin, the population
was sparse, the roads were mere bridle
paths, and travelling on them wholly by
horseback; there were no newspapers or
book stores «f any account, and no mails,
railroads, steamers, telegraphs or telephones
at all. Is it not well that men should oc-
casionally turn from the farm, the factory,
the forum, to survey the sacrifices, the
sufferings and the successes of these stal-
wart, spirited and self-respecting grand-
sires ?

When the Revolutionary war began in
1776, the whole of what is now the prov-
ince of New Brunswick was included in the
province of Nova Scotia, The inhabitants
of English descent in all this territory

4 THE REY. OLIVER ARNOLD.

probably did not then number more than 1500,
and were chiefly settled around St. Jobn,
Maugerville and Sackville. There were also
some scattered Acadian refugees along the
north shore and around the heed waters of the
St. John river; besides which were the
Indians, whose number cannot be accurate-
ly stated and who probably had no settle-
ments at which they sojourned for more
than a few months at a time. There
was, however, a large Indian village
of some description and of more or
less permanent character on the land now
owned by J. Alfred Campbell, at the junc-
tion of the Millstream with the Kennebec-
casis; and from the nature of that locality,
as well as the large burying ground known
to have existed there, and the remains of
Indian arrow-heads and other implements
found there, it can hardly be doubted that
the Indians’ frequently resorted thither.
When the Loyalists landed at St. John in
1783 the only people of European descent
settled in territory now included in Kings
county were a few on the Hammond River at
the place still called from them French
Village. Captain Munro says there were
fifteen families of these Acadians, and that
they had then been there about fifteen
years, Several of them took out grants in
1787, from which their names seem to have
been principally Blanchard, Robichau, Terio,
Terisand Thibaudeau. This would, according
to Mr. Hannay, indicate that they were de-
scendants of the Acadians who were a hun-
dred years before settled around Port
Royal; but just how and when they reached
their home on the Hammond Riveris not very
clear. They may have taken refuge there
from the Petitcodiac or the St, John, or
quite possibly they had sought safety in this
secluded settlement when furtively return-
ing after the great expulsion. They all
sold out, however, soon after obtaining their
grants. Perhaps they did not feel at home
with their new neighbors; at all events,they
seem to have preferred to join their kindred
in Miramichi or Madawaska. Among those
who purchased from them was John Pugs-
ley, the great-grandfather of the Hon. Wil-
liam Pagslev, D C L., the present solicitor-
general of New Brunswick.

Much of the highlands had been lately
overrun by fires. The early reports of the
crown land surveyors frequently mention
lots round Sussex and the Millstream as
“burnt land,” or as covered with a young
growth of wood not yet fit for timber or
firewood; and blackened stumps of huge
pines and other monarchs of the forest

have been found when tracing lines even in
comparatively recent times. It has been
suggested that the Indians had purposely
set such fires to deter the loyalists from set-
tling; but though the Indians have a tradi-
tion that a great fire occurred not long
before the white man came, the accounts of
its origin and date are so vague and in-
definite that it seems fairer to conclude that
the fire occurred accidentally or through an
attempt by the natives to clear their bunt-
ing grounds efter the great gale of Novem-
ber 3rd, 1769. Fortunately game was
abundant, and for many years the settlers
added largely to their larders from moore
and partridge, salmon and trout. The
stories told of the plentifulness of game in
those days would be the Cerpair of sports-
men of the present time. It wasa quite

ordinary matter then to shoot two or three
mocse of a morning at the salt springs in
Penobrquis, and the Kennebeccasis was at
times so choked up with salmon that one
might almost cross upon their backs at the
rapids and rocky shoals above Norton. The
very names of Salmon river and Trout creek
are memorials to this day of the chief char-
acteristics of these streams in early times,
and the sport had upon them by men yet
living is ample proof that but for dele-
terious sawdust and murderous saw Iccs
Sussex would not now be dependent for its
reputation asa fishing resort upon Dick’s
lake and Squirrel Cote.

But though there were then probably no
inhabitants settled along its banks, the
Kennebeccasis, connecting, as it does, with
the Petitcodiac by a short portage of only
about a mile and a half, had, no doubt, long
formed one of the chief highways across the
province. Indeed, the very name ‘‘Ana-
gance” is said to signify a portage or carry-
ing place. Early reports speak of both the
Indians and the French having repeatedly
followed this route between the St. John
river and the villages at the head of the Bay
of Fundy. The portage from the North
river to the Canaan river was probably used
in going to the upper St. John; but there is
little doubt that the route through Sussex
was ordinarily preferred to the bold shores
and turbulent tides of the bay. For more
than 40 years after the settlement of Sussex
the Kennebeccasis continued the chief means
of transport for heavy freight both to and
from the sea. It was in this connection that
the famous ‘‘Durham boats” were mostly
used, They were about 30 or 40 feet in
length, and about 8 feet in width; not decked
over, except for a small space at the stern;

EARLY LAND GRANTS. 5

provided with a keel, though flatter in the
botsom than ordinary craft, and furnished
with oars, and also with a mast, which sup-
ported a sail, where the wind or current
would propel the boat, bat which, in the
upper and shallower waters, upheld above
the bashes on the bank a stout tow-rope,
whereby the crew of four or five dragzed the
boat to its destination.

Before 1783 the governor of Nova Scotia
had issued afew grants of land now in-
cluded in Kingscounty. Of these the earliest
of importance was the so-called township
of Amesbury, which took its name from the
chief grantee, James Amesbury, a merchant
of Halifax. It extended from the lower
side line of the ‘‘Studholm-Baxter” grant
westward and northward to the St. John
and Washademoak. Sir Andrew Snape
Hammond, lieutenant governor of Nova
Scotia in 1781 and 1782, obtained Dec. 23rd,
1782, the grant of a tract of land situate
on the River Sb. John and bounded as
follows :

Beginning on ths southern boundary line of
the township granted to James Amasnury and
others, and on the eastern side of the River
Kennebeccasis opposite the portage, thence
running east 320 chains on said southern bound-
ary line,thence south 320 chains,thence west 320
chaias, or till it comes to the eiver Kennebec-
casis, and thsnce up stream to the first bounds.

This was a block of about 10,000 acres,
described by Captain Munro as being chief-
ly indifferent land covered with birch, but
comprising some good intervale and upland,
which included the French village above re-
ferred to. He also described the township
of Amesbury as consisting of low sunken in-
tervale and large meadows in the southern
portion. The upper part was chiefly burnt
land, but about Belleisle the land was toler-
ably good, though without timber.

Thegrant known as the ‘‘Studholm- Baxter
grant” was dated the 15thday ot August,
1782. Ib was made to Gilfred Studholme,
Simoa Baxter, William Baxter, Benj smia
Baxter, Dunkin Campbell, Benjamin Siow
and John Hazen; and comprised 9,500
acres (with the usual allowance), ex-
tending from Norton Station to Passakeag,
This and the Studville grant to Major
Studholme (dated June 10th, 1784,)
were the only Nova Scotia grants of
land in Kings county that were nov after-
wards escheated. No settlement seems to
have been made by either Amesbury or Sir
Andrew. They probably obtained their
grants in the first place for spsculative pur-
poses only; and, as they failed to comply
with the conditions on which the grants

were issued, the land was escheated to the
crown and re-granted to bona fide settlers.
Amesbury is traced now only by afew refer-
ences in early documents; but the parish of
Hammond, and that beautiful stream, the
Hammond river, perpetuate the memory of
the speculative governor of Nova Scotia.

The first grant of land comprised in the
present parish of Sussex was to Gilfred
Studholme, Thomas Harper, James Hayes,
John Burges and William McLeod. It was
dated the 10th day of June, 1784, and com:
prised about 5,000 acres in a_ block
nearly three miles square, and ex-
tending from below Apohaqui Station to
the farm of Michael Creighton at Lower
Cove. A deed to Major Studholme by the
other grantees shows that the names of the
latter were inserted solely for and on the
behalf of the said Gilfred Studholme, with
intent that they should convey to him when-
ever required, The Major evidently was not
then strictly entitled to so large a tract. By
grant dated the 6th day of July, 1784, 4
block of 14,000 acres, also known as Capt.
Hauser’s fourth survey, was granted by the
Nova Scotia government to Colonel Isaac
Allen and others, This extended from
S:udville nearly to the salt works on the
Salmon river and to the Parlee brook on the
Trout Creek, and so included the whole of
the village of Sussex. Colonel Allen, how-
ever, a8 well as many of his associates, pre-
ferred to settle above Fredericton on the St.
John river, and so relinquished this granb
in Sussex. ‘his was one of the last of the
grants made by the Nova Scotia government
of land in this vicinity, for on the 16:h of
August, 1784, New Bruaoswick was erected
into a separate province,

By grant dated the 19th day of May,
1786, the ‘‘Island,’ comprising the farms
of William Creighton, Sheriff Freez,
Col. Beer and the late William Morrison,
was granted to the Hon. George Leonard;
and subsequently, by grant dated the 18th
day of Juty, 1794, three lots to the east-
ward of the ‘‘[sland” and six lots to the
northward of Salmon River were granted to
Mr. L3onard and John and Peter Cougle;
and lots 48 and 50, south of the Trout
Creek, were also given to Mr. Leonard.
Lot 50 is that on which the present rectory
stands; and lot 48 is bounded eastwardly by
the farm of Nelson Arnold, Esq , and west-
wardly by the Ward’s Creek road, and in-
cludes to the northward of the Post road
the lands of William McLeod and John
W halen.

The remainder of the land originally

6 THE REV. OLIVER ARNOLD.

assigned to Col, Allen and his associates was
included in another grant of the same date,
July 18th, 1794, which is known as the
grant to John Ross and others. Most of
the early grants were of large tracts of land,
and took their names from the grantee who
happened to be first mentioned therein,
(hus the grant of the land at Penob-
equis, which is dated the 23rd day
of June, 1786, and includes all the ter-
ritory from Plumweseep to the old gravel
pit above ‘‘the lane” is known as the grant
to John Furnie and others. Almost noth-
ing is known of either Ross or Furnie, and
probably neither would now be remembered
at all but for the accident which placed
their names first in their respective grants.
Oa such a slender thread hangs human fame,
By these grants, or by purchase shortly
afterward, became settled in Sussex the
Barberies, Cougles, Doyals, Fsirweathers,
Halletts, Heines, Leonards, McLeans, Mc-
Leods, Parlees, Roaches, Shecks, Sniders,
Stocktons, Vails, and others whose names
remain unto this day. They had nearly all
served the crown in the Revolutionary war,
and were chiefly from the states of Massa-
chusetts, New York, New Jersey and Penn-
sylvania.

Oliver Arnold was one of those who came
to Sussex as a purchaser, and not as an orig,
inal grantee. fle was born at Mansfield,
in the state of Connecticut, on Wednesday
the 15th day of October, 1755; the eldest
child of Nathan Arnold and his wife Pru-
dence, who was the daughter of Nathan
Denison of the neighboring towo of Wind-
ham. Nathan Arnold was a native of
Mansfield and a reputable physician of that
place; but his ancestry is not known with
certainty. Heis thought to have been a
gcandson of John Arnold, who was one of
the first settlers of Mansfield and a proprie-
tor and large land owner of that town. Ihe
latter is supposed to have been descended
in the 5th or 6:h degree from William Ar-
nold, who was born on the 24h day of June,
1587, at Cheselbourne, in the county of Dor-
set, Kngland, settled at Providence, R. 1,
in 1636, and died at Warwick, R. I. in
1676 or 1677. His family had for several
gsneratioas been living in HKnogland, and
numbered among their ancestors divers and
sundry Welsh knights, as well as Oad walla-
der, the last king of the Britons. Oliver
was a name of frequent recurrence among
the posterity of William Arnold; which
fact, together with the failure
of diligent inquiry to elicit any mention of
more than the one Arnold family in New

England, seems to make it reasonably cer-
tain that the subject of this sketch was a
lineal descendant of William Arnold, above
mentioned, .-
Dr. Nathan Arnold and his lady had the

following family, viz:

Oliver, born the 15th day of October, 1755.

Mary, born the 12th day of October, 1757.

Amos, born the 4th day of October, 1759.

Denison, born the 16th day of September,
1761; died the 5th day of November, 1761.
ees born the i6th day of November,

L0G.

Nathan, born the 2nd day of March, 1765.

Roswell, born the 10th day of February, 1767.

Prudence, born the 16th day of November,

1768.
Fidelia, born the 27th day of November, 1770.

Of these at least Amos and Roswell came
to New Brunswick with Oliver, but whether
they died here while young men or returned
to Connecticut, is not now known. No
positive information has been gathered re-
specting any other of Mr. Arnold’s brothers
and sisters,

Oliver Arnold graduated at Yale college,
New Haven, Conn., in 1776; but nothing
further can be learned of him from the rec-
ords of that institution, and no more is
known of him until after his arrival at S+.
John with the other Loyalists in 1783. He
first appears as secretary to the Rev. John
Sayre, George Leonard, William Tyng,
James Peters and Gilfred Studholme, who
had the supervision of the new city. Their
designation was ‘‘The Directors of the Town
atthe Katrance of the River Saint John.”
The original plan of the city was made by
Paul Bedell, as deputy surveyor, under the
superintendence of Major Studholme, and
bears date the 17th day of December, 1783,
and during that winter the lots were dis-
tributed. A doz2n or more of the certifi-
cates signed by Oliver Arnold as secretary
are registered in the St. John Record Office
as the first link in the paper title to the
several lots. These certificates or tickets
were in the following form, viz :

This may certify that Dorotha Kingston is
the rightful owner of Lot No. 844 in Duke
street. beiog forty feet by one hundred, hav-
ing complied with the terms of receiving it.

By order of the Director; of the Town at the
Entrance of the River Saint J»hn.

OLIVER ARNOLD.

This Dorotha (Dorothy?) Kingston
was one of the _ original grantees
of lot 47 in Sussex, extending from the
Ward’s Creek road westwards along
the Post road, as far as Henry Goldinog’s
blacksmith shop, and from the late Isaac
Bunnell’s northwardly to the Trout Creek,

a Rasa ia |

.
analy
=
FA :
eWA 4 -
(2 E
Bh)
a,
-
4 = yl .
4
fu Cae | |
Rarer :
abies ;
Ee : L.
id irgdi st
By mks i
5 be -
a
| ieee
: * ;
> : 5m
res e
: ; ,
‘ if cs
eae :
‘. r
} Lae
.5 .
7 f
a ¥ - 7s,
a ;
acd ha
= 5 9!
=.
oa S
i ¢ oo
{
-
«>
re
BPR
bier
.
<<)

yf pitts Hen, | heey 9, hg at pee bs, whe ee er et
1d wash hey yp a ce Sink so pean pis 3 pen
uN : va Marke te ey sma Pa ae Dts Wns Dok pie oe ‘49 ae
Pa ea : sabia ae ep aaa. o sents ge om
see pammuamamiine sistilS
, ; ab
“a |

CHARLOTTE, WIFE OF REV. OLIVER ARNOLD,

SCHOOL FOR INDIANS. 7

ant including the site of the old Indian col-
ega,

Oliver Arnold drew lot No. 95 on the
west side of Germain street, immediately in
the rear of the lots fronting on King street;
also a water lot, bounded eastwardly by
Prince William street, southwardly by Duke
street, and westwardly by low-water mark
in the harbor of St. John. In the convey-
ance by him of this water lob, dated the
23d day of September, 1785, Mr. Arnold is
described as of the city of So. John, gentle-
man; and as the consideration is stated at
£95, there must then—within two years
after the settlement of the city—have been
quite a boom in the city lots, at least in
those fronting on the harbor. But however
lively real estate may have been, there
does not seem to have been then
much to do for a person without
some trade or vocation, and accordingly
Mr. Arnold soon removed to the country.
‘He had become, July 14th, 1784, the
grantee of one-half of lot No. 3 in Kingston,
and his brother Amos drew January 27th,
1786, one-half of lot 9 in Westfield.
Amos had also received for his city lot No.
66 on the east side of Prince William street,
midway between Duke street and Queen
street, and in his conveyance of the latter,
May 4th, 1786, to Thomas Handforth, he is
described as of Kingston, in the county of
Kings, Yeoman. No wife joins in this deed,
so that Amos was probably not married while
he lived in New Brunswick; and it also is
pretty clear from another deed, dated in the
summer of 1786, in which he is described as
of the city of St. John, without mention of
any occupation, that Amos Arnold made no
permanent settlement in this country. He
was the grantee of another lot, the N. E.
half of No. 15 in Holland’s first survey
of land called Sterling’s grant. This
he conveyed to his brother Oliver for
£35 by dsed dated July 27th, 1786,
in which the latter is mentioned as of
Long Reach, in Kings county, but without
stating his occupation. This deed is wit-
nessed by Roswell Arnold, and gives the
only certain knowledge we have of more
than one brother having accompanied Oliver
to New Brunswick.

Oliver Arnold appears to have intended
at first to setule permanently on the Long
Raach; and on the ninth day of November,
1786, he was married by the Rev. George
Bissett to Charlotte, eighth child and third
daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Wig-
gins of Newburgh, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs.
Arnold seem, however, to have wearied

quickly of life on the Long Reach. Capo.
Munro says that these lands on the south-
east of the Reach, being a block of 10,000
acres which had been granted to Captain
Walter Sterling of the navy, were chiefly a
very bad tract; there was no intervale, til-
lage, nor meadow land, nor would 1,000
acres accommodate one single family. There
is little wonder that Mr. Arnold soon dis-

posed of his land in that vicinity.
The deed is dated the 5th day
of June, 1787; and as the price of

the lot is stated to be £75, it may be con-
cluded either that Amos had sold at a sacri-
fice in order to return to Connecticut, or
that Oliver had very industriously improved -
the lot during the ten months he owned it,
He had, however, purchased for £37 10s.
from Ebenezer Spicer and James Morgan
Fairchild of St. John, lot No. 49 in Sussex,
which comprised the farms at present owned
by Nelson Arnold and Horatio Arnold. It
seems almost certain that, in removing to
Sussex, Mr. Arnold had in view other pur-
suits than agriculture, and though we do
not know whether or not he then contem-
glated taking holy orders, there is little
doubt that his chief object was to establish
a school for the Indians. The leading citi-
zen of Sussex at that time was the Hon.
George Leonard, and he had in 1786 been
appointed by the New Eagland company
one of their commissioners for educating and
civilizing the Indians in this province. A
school house was, in the fall of L787, erected
on the northeast corner of the present
Trinity church lot, by the small gate lead-
ing to the church, and this is afterwards
referred to by Mr. Leonard as having been
erected for an Indian school house. Froma
memorial dated at Fredericton, the 7th day
of February, 1791, and written by Me.
Arnold to ‘‘the honorable board for propa-
gating the gospel among the natives of
America,” a glimpse may be had of the
nature and circumstances of the work to
which he had devoted himself. He says:

**The memorial of Oliver Arnold will state
to your board that in consequence of his en-
gagements with the Indians when on a visit
among them in January, 1790, mentioned in
a letter directed to George Leonard, Esq.,
he has been under a necessity to contract a
small account and fulfil his engagements with
the Indians, or give up all hope of any suc-
cess with them, which he now begs leave to
present to the board for their approbation
and payment together with his other ex-
penses.

‘Your memorialist flatters himself that

8 THE REY. OLIVER ARNOLD.

his school is now in as good way as any
other in the province where large sums have
been expended, and he hopes that his small
account, now presented, may be paid, as it
is so small in comparison to what has been
allowed to others. Your memorialist also
states that on an application from the Indians
in the States requesting to come into this
country and:receive the advantage of an
education from the fund they formerly
enjoyed, and, considering the effects it
might naturally produce among the Indians
of this country, such as stimulating them in
their education and forwarding their incli-
nation to husbandry and tilling the soil, he
has made a journey to the States and
brought with him two young Indians, which
has had the effect he expected with the In-
dians of this country, and therefore presents
a bill of the expense to the board, and
hopes they may approve of the measures
and allow the expense.

‘*Your memorialist further states that his
contingent expenses, such as for travelling
and for victualling the Indians who call oa
him ten, fifteen and twenty at a time, for
two or three days, has amounted to so con-
siderable asum,and your memorialist’s salary
ig so small, that the benefit he has received
from it for his tamily has been very incon-
siderable for two years past. Ha therefore
prays the board to take his case into con-
sideration and to make such an addition to
his salary as they may think proper, which
he hopes may extend to the year paso.

“All which is humbly submivted to the
board by their most humble servant,

“OLIVER ARNOLD.”

There was then, in 1791, no missionary in
Sussex, and indeed only six missionaries of
the Church of England in the whole prov-
ince. The Rev. Richard Clarke of Gage-
town is known to have visited Sussex
November 4th, 1787, when he married
James Oodner to Mr. Leonard’s second
daughter, Lucy, and baptized some children
named Hayes and Smith; and it is probable
that other missionaries had occasionally
been here. The need of a settled pastor
was, of course, much felt, and though the
people naturally preferred one with whom
they were acquainted and who had four
years’ expsrieuce of the conditions of life
in their midst, yet it bsars strong witness
to the piety, learning, zal and gifts of Mr.
Arnold that the inhabitants of this import-
ant parish urged him to take Holy Orders,
and recommended him to the bishop for
ordination and to the Society for the Props-
gation of the Gospel for appointment as

their missionary in Sussex. This society
was the chiet missionary agency of the
time. It had been founded by Dr. Thomas
Bray, and was chartered by King
William III. in 1701, ‘‘For the receiving,
managing and disposing of the contributions
of such persons as would be _ in-
duced to extend their charity towards
the maintenance of a learned and othodox
clergy and the making of such other pro-
vision as might be necessary for the propa-
gation of the gospel in foreign parts, etc.”
After the revolutionary war this society,
commonly known as the ‘“‘S P. G.,” na-
turally devoted to the establishment of mis-
sionaries in New Brunswick and other loyal
colonies the funds it had previously ex-
pended in the revolted states; and for near-
ly fifty years the missionaries of the Estab-
lished Church in New Brunswick were
chiefly supported by this noble and benevo-
lent institution. The S P. G. is quite dis-
tin:t from ‘**The Company for the Propaga-
tion of the Gospel in New Eagland and the
parts adjacent in America,” which had been
founded about 1662 and which mainly con-
ducted the efforts to civilize and educate the
Indians.

Before the revolution the clergymen of
the established church had always been or-
dained in England, and no bishop had yet
been appointed for any of the colonies; but
on the 12th of August, 1787, the Rev.
Charles Inglis, D. D., the fearless
rector of Trinity church in New York, who
had not hesitated to continue his prayers
for King George and the royal family even
when Gen. Washington and his soldiers had
attended his church, was consecrated as Lord
Bishop of Nova Scotia, with ecclesiastical
jurisdiction over the other North American
provinces. TheS. P. G, report for 1789
contains the following, which is the first
reference to Sussex :

‘“‘The Province of New Brunswick is daily
increasing, and there are several places
where ministers may soon be wanted —abont
Pedicodiac, Sussex Vale, Oromocto, and
Moductuc, where the inhabitants begin to
be numerous. The people of Sussex Vale
have recommended a Mr. Arnold to the
bishop, and he is likely to be settled among
them.”

In the summer of 1792 Bishop Inglis spent
about four months in visiting the remoter
portions of his diocese, and in the course of
this, which was probably his first regular
pastoral tour through New Brunswick, he
seems to have visited all the important set-
tlements of the province. As an instance of

VISIT OF BISHOP INGLIS. 9

the hardships to be encountered those days
in travelling, it may be mentioned that in
crossing the Bay of Fundy the weather was
so stormy that the good bishop was unable
for two days to take off his clothes, That
part of his report relating to the church at
Sussex is as tollows:

‘“‘From Kingston the bishop proceeded to
Sussex Vale, where Mr. Arnold, who was
lately appointed by him, resides, whom the
people much entreated the bishop to recom-
mend to the society to be appointed their
missionary, as they plead an inability to pro-
vide for him without their assistance, which,
if they should obtaia, Mr. Geo. Leonard,
& member of council and _ principal
person in the settlement, and a_ very
generous supporter of it, has proposed
to give, in addition to the present glebe
(which the bishop found to be too discant,
and too inconvenient), 200 acres of good
land in the centre of the parish, and the
people to erect a church in the spring. As
soon as these conditions shall be accom:
plished, it is the intention of the society to
comply with the wishes of the people. In
the interim, as a mark of their approbation
of Mr. Arnold, and as a compensation for
his services, the society have granted him a
geatuity of £30. There are 150 families,
loyal emigrants, 80 of which are settled in
what is called the Vale.”

Ic may be noted, in passing, that the
glebe which the bishop found too distant
was that sandy hill below or to the west-
ward of William Hannah’s, which wassolda
few years ago by the Corporation of Trinity
church to the late George McIntyre. L[b
will also be remarked thes as early as 1792
this locality was known as Sussex Vale. Lo
was at first called Pleasant Valley.

It is much to be regretted that the
bishop’s itinerary does not contain a fuller
account of his doings elsewhere. He makes
no meation at all of being at various places
which from other sources we know he vis-
_ited; he gives very few dates; and alto-
gether his letter to the society is extremely
lacking in details which, though possibly
trivial in the eyes of the writer, might have
rendered great assistance in tracing the
early history of the province and ia clearing
up many points of interest that will now
perhaps forever remain obscure.

It will be noticed that the only informa-
tion vouchsafed by the S. P. G. report re-
specting Mr. Arnold is that he had been
‘lately ordained.” From this and the sur-
rounding circumstances it has been assumed
that the ordination took place on the 19ih

day of August, 1792, at old Trinity church
in St. Jonn, and this is probably correco,
though the evidence in favor of it is neither
direco nor positive. The Rev. Frederick
Dibblee of Woodstock records in his parish
register that he was himself on the last

mentioned day admitted into the
Holy Order of Priests‘ by Bishop
Ioglis, buo he names Christ Church

in St. John as the place of his ordination;
and although old Trinity had been opened
on Chriscmas day, 1791, it seems possible
that the Unrist church mentioned by Mr.
Dibblee was not Trinity but the older edi-
fice which stood on the east side of Germain
street between Duke and Queen streets. One
can hardly believe that Mr. Dibblee would
make an error in 1ecording the place of
an event so important to him as his own
ordination; aud not only had the corner stone
of Trinity church been laid on the 20th of
Augast, 1788, but the name had been then
or soon after adopted, as appears from its
mention in the act of incorporation passed
io 1789, when it is referred to as ‘‘the
church commonly called and known by the
name of Trinity church in the city of Saint
John.” Besides, we are not told whether
Mr. Arnold was then admitted as priest or
deacon; nor, if the former, when and where
he was ordained as deacon. Possibly he
had followed the course of Mr. Dibblee and
had gone to Halifax the preceding year
for admission to the lower order.
But while the time and place of Mr. Ar-
nold’s ordination are not as clearly estab-
lished as one might wish, it is quite certain
that in the summer of 1792 he was an or-
dained clergyman of the Church of Eig-
land, and as such was ministering to the
people of Sussex. It was not, however,
till the following summer that Mr. Leonard
made the conveyance of the present Glebe.

The deed is dated the 14th day of
Angust, 1793, and is expressed to be for
the only pruper use, benefit and behoof
of tho Rector, Churchwardens and Vestry
of the Church of Eagland established at
Sussex Vale, in Kings County. ‘‘For a
parsonage glebe for the Incumbent of
the said Parish and Church for the time
being, forever, on condition that a Mission
is opened in the Parish by the Society for
Propagating the Gospel, and the same shall
be held for the use and benefio of the Cler-
gymen so settled in said Parish (and that
when the Society shall withdraw its
protection and care from the said Parish),
bub (or?) in case’ the people
should protess any other religion or

10 THE REV. OLIVER ARNOLD.

practise any other mode of worship than
the Kstablished Church of Eagland, and
thereby remove the minister or clergyman
from said parish, for whose use and benefit
the above-described premises are granted,
the same with all the privileges shall return
back to the said George Leonard, his heirs
or assigns, he, the said Gzorge, his heirs or
assigas, paying for all buildings and im-
provements thereon, at the valuation of
three competent judges.” Ina the S. P. G.
report for 1793, Mr. Arnold’s name first
appears as ‘‘Missionary at Sussex Vale,” in
receipt of £50. Soon after his settlement
a3 missionary, Mr. Arnold became a mem-
ber of S:on lodge, No 21, KF. & A M. This
was the first lodge of Free Masons in Kings
county, and was established August
15ih, 1792, with Christopher Sower
as W. M., Samuel Ketchum as S. W., and
William Hutchison as J. W. It ac firsb
met in Mason’s hall, ‘now kept by Ebenezer
Spicer in the township of Kingston,” but on
March 6:h, 1799, after the removal of Mr.
Spicer to Sussex, the lodge was authorized
to be held at his house in the latver place.
This was an inn kept by him on the site of
the present residence of Walter McMonagle,
E:q Sion lodge existed till about the year
1825,

No letters were had by the society in 1794

from Mr. Arnold or from Mr. Dibblee, or’

from Mr. Scovil, the missionary at King-
ston. This was attributed to accidents and
miscarriage consequent upon the war with
France. The missionary at Sussex, how-
ever, was actively engaged in providing for
both the spiritual aod mo>ntal instruction
of his people; and on the 15th day of
August, 1794, ‘‘Henry Fowler and Elizsbeth,
his wife, in consideration of the love, good
willand affection they bore to the worship of
Almighty God and to the educatioa of chil-
dren, and divers other good causes (pro-
minentb among which were doubtless the
rector’s zeal, energy and eloquence), con-
veyed to the Rav. Oliver Arnoid as rector
of the said parish of Sussex, and Gabriel
Fowler and Isaiah Smith as wardens of the
western part of the said parish, and Caleb

Wetmore, Reuben Craft, William Bull,
Noah Morehouse, Jesse Tabor, Duvid
B. Wetmore, Justus Sherwood, James

Fowler, Josiah Kowler, Joseph Ferris and
Raloff Ruloffson as vestrymen, a lot of land
situate in said parish of Sussex on the West-
morland road, to the eastward of French
village and being part of Lot No. 8, and com-
prising about one and a half acres, to the
use, trust and benefit of erecting, or causing

to be erected thereon, achurch edifice oF
building forthe purpose of worshipping
therein Almighty God according to the
rites, ceremonies and forms of the Church
of England as by Law established—and a
school house for the education of children
under the immediate direction of said Rec-
tor, Caurchwardens and Vestry, and their
successors for the time being, &c., &c., &.”

By a letter dated the 3lsu Aug., 1795,
Mr. Arnold informed the Society that the
Parish of Sussex being very ex ensive, the
House of Assembly agreed the previous
winter to divide it into three parts, viz :
Sussex, Hampton and Norton. At the
original division of New Brunswick in 1786
into Counties and Parishes, Kings
County had been divided into only
four Towns or Parishes, viz.: Westfield,
Springfield, Kingston and Sussex. The
latter was then thus bounded: ‘‘Begin-
ing at the point where the county line
strikes the southeast shore of Kennebeccasis
bay, and continuing along the same to
the lower boundary line of a grand to Stud-
holme, Baxter and obthers,thence north tothe
northwest angle of the said grant,and thence
north sixty-five degrees east to the bound-
ary line of the county.” That is to say,
Sussex at the first included all the territory
now comprised in the parishes of Rothesay,
Hampton, Upham, Hammond, Waterford,
Curdwell, Havelock, Studholm and Sussex,
togather with part of Norton, and even after
the act of 1795 (35 Geo. III., c. 3), Sussex
covered the whole of the present parishes of
Sussex, Studholm, Havelock, Cardwell and
Waterford, and also part of Hammond. To
this new parish of Sussex Mr. Arnold gave
two-thirds of his time, div:ding the remain-
der between Norton and Hampton. In all
directions the people manifested a good dis-
position by a general attendance on Divine
worship. He expressed a strong sense of
geatitude to Mr. Laonard for his manifold
kindness to him and for his bountiful assist-
anovze to the Church, and announces the
building of a room for the Iadian school, 80
by 30 feet, which ‘‘is so constructed that
the Eaglish may derive equal advantage
from it.” He also reported that in the in-
terval between the Bishop’s first visitation
in 1792 and his last in 1795 he had baptized
87 infants and 9 adults; married 37 couples,
aud buried 7 children and only one adult.
He had then 78 communicants, and request-
ed some prayer-books and religious tracts,
which were sent him. Simon Baxter of
Norton had lately given 200 acres ot excel-
lent land, 30 being cleared thereon. There

THOS. ANSLEY AND MARY HIS WIFE. 11

was a@ convenient house for a parsonage.
Norton then contained 200 souls, and many
more were expected to settle there during
the ensuing summer. The society, by rea-
son of numerous other applications, did not
then feel able to send a missionary to Nor-
ton; but appointed Ozias Ansley as their
schoolmaster there at a salary of £10 per
year.

The state of the mission at Sussex Vale
was in 1797 said to be nearly the same as
when Mr. Arnold had last written. He re-
ported a visible reform in the morals of the
people, but lamented that the work of the
church went on slowly. Three new commu-
nicants had lately been added, however, and
he again acknowledged a box of books frem
the society. Two or three years later some
Baptist and New Light preachers passed
through Sussex on their way from Nova
Scotia to the settlements on the
St. John river, They seem _ to
have had a_ good many followers,
and to have created some excitement; but in
1802 Mr. Arnold informs the society that
the ‘‘intemperate zeal” of these teachers
had abated, their numbers decreased, and
many of his parishioners who appeared to
be unsettled in their principles were return-
ing to a serious and sober sense of religion
and of their duty. The nature of the mat-
ters mooted by these travelling preachers
may be inferred from the rector’s request
for some copies of Wall on Iafant Baptism,
and The Eaglishman Directed in the Choice
of His Religion, which the society promptly
gent him. Probably among these teachers
was the Harris mentioned by Sheriff Bates
a3 a Notorious preacher who came into the
parish of Sussex and told the people he had
come to them by an irresistible call from
Heaven to offer salvation inSussex thatnight,
and that if he disobeyed the call the very
stones would rise up against him. The
sheriff says that many gave heed to him and
were converted, especially one respectable
member of the Church of England and his
son, whohad been disappointed. They,
however, divided the congregation, and so
many joined them in preterence to Harris
that the latter repented he had ever offered
salvation in Sussex and went in disgust to
Norton. As an instance of the change of
customs, it may be remarked that one chief
objection raised against these travelling
preachers was that they held services in the
evening, which was then contrary to the
practice of the Established Church.

There were in 1802 forty-eight communi-
cants in Sussex and twenty-four in Norton.

In the latter place Mr. Arnold then officiated
every third Sunday, and in the tollowing
year he reported forty-five families as in
regular attendance upon Dw.vine service
there. In 1804 he writes that he has lately
visited two new settlements. One (called
Cherry Valley, which cannot now be identi-
fied) he says is about 12 miles distant from
Sussex and contains 23 families; the other,
Smith’s creek, where 14 families were then
settled, was about 10 miles distant. The
church at Sussex was now ‘‘in great for-
wardness.” It was on the lot at the Upper
Corner conveyed July 19th, 1794, by Thomas
Ansley and Mary, his wife, ‘‘for and in con-
sideration of the privilege of having the
ground or floor for a pew in the church which
is about to be erected in the vale of the said
Sussex,” and was ‘‘for the use and purpose
of erecting the aforementioned church or
building thereon.”

Thomas Ansley was the son of Ozias
Ansley above mentioned. The latter had
been an ensign in the 1st Battalion of New
Jersey volunteers, and also adjutant of the
corps. On coming to New Brunswick he
received a grant of land near Plumweseep
and also lot No. 55 at the Upper Corner,
but he does not seem to have had any grant
in St. John. He bought a piece of land in
Norton and thought he would like to have
a lot of 400 acres adjoining it; but his appli-
cation was endorsed by the upright and in-
fl-xible old surveyor general, George Sproule,
with the remark that Mr. Ansley already
had more land than the royal instructions
permitted. He afterwards bought lot 54 at
the Upper Corner, which had been granted
to ® man by the name of Drummond;
and in 1793 he conveyed to _ his
son Thomas 100 acres off the lower end of
lots 54 and 55. The church lot was part of
No. 54 Ozias Ansley was a justice of the
peace and quorum, and many of the earliest
deeds were acknowledged before him, but
he did not remaia very long in one place.
In addition to Sussex and Norton he lived
fora while in St. John, where his wife
Charity died on the 6th of May, 1801, in
her 53rd year, and having finally returned
to the Uuited States he died at Staten [sland
in 1838, in the 85th year of hisage. He
had left several children there and was fol-
lowed to New Brunswick by only two sons,
Thomas and Daniel. The latter was by oc-
cupation a tanner and currier in St. John,
where some of his descendants still reside.
He acquired considerable wealth, was one of
the organizers and directors of the Com
mercial Bank, and held several other posi

12 THE REY. OLIVER ARNOLD.

tions of trust; but having, when advanced
in life, lost much of his means by unfortunate
endorsements he removed to Digby, N.S.
Thomas, the elder, was for a while parish
clerk under Mr. Arnold, but afterwards
removed to Bridgetown, N. S., and _ be-
came one of the fathers of the Baptist
denomination. He died at St. Andrews
while on a preaching tour. Iv seems
not improbable that Ozias Ansley and his
son Thomas are those referred to by Sheriff
Bates as having divided the honors with Mr.
Harris.

The church at Sussex was completed in
July, 1805, after which the congregation
became more numerous than it ever had
been before. Four communicants were
added, 24 infants baptized and 6 couples
married, but as the year was remarkably
healthy there were no burials and ‘‘scarcely
an instance of a person confiaed to his room
by sickness.” In 1808, Mc. Arnold acquainted
the society that although some inconsider-
able difficulties had arisen, yet in general
his people went on quietly, and the church
gradually increased by the yearly addition
of communicants. The bishop had lately
confirmed 113 persons in his parish. The
people of Norton were making preparations
to build a small church, for which they
already had £130 subscribed. His Notitia
Parochialis fur that year, from Michaelmas
to Michaelmas, included 28 baptisms, 18
marriages, 3 burials and 76 communicants.
As usual he requested Bibles, prayer books
aod religious tracts for the poor of his
parish and the neighboring settlements.

Ths next year a contract was entered
into by the church wardens of Norton for
the erection of a church 30x40, to be com-
pleted by the firs: of the f .llowing August,
Also the people of Hampton joined with
those of the upper part of Kingston and the
lower partof Norton to build another church
at Hampton, for which £350 was already
subscribed. The sites toc these churches
were thought to be excellently chosen.
The parish had enjoyed mach peace and
quietness during the year, ‘‘not having been
disturbed by any of the sectaries.” From
Michaelmas 1809 to Michaelmas 1810, Mr.
Arnold baptized 21 children, married 19
couples and buried only one person.

By a letter dated the 3rd of January,
1814, the society learned from Mr. Araold
thao several of his letters had never reached
them, probably in consequence of the dis-
turbance of ocean communication, caused
by the war of 1812. In the summer of 1811
he had made an excursion into Westmorland

county, in the course of which he had
preached at Sackville and at Dorchester,
and had baptized two children. The next
year he repeated this visit, and went as far
as Windsor in Nova Scotia. He preached
on his way at Parrsborough, the distance to
which from Sussex.(140 miles) is described
as lying through a thickly settled country,
without a single clergyman of the Estab-
lished Church. Ic is likely that on this oc-
casion he accompanied his son, Horatio
Nelson, on his way to school at Windsor.

The church at Norton had not been com-
pleted as per contract; but it had been in-
closed and the inhabitants had met in it for
divine service, the flor had been laid, and
& seat and readioy desk erected for the
minister. The frame of the Norton church
was raised the 2ad of April, 1814. The
society furnished a Bible and prayer book
for the church, as well as small Bibles,
prayer booka and religious tracts for the use
of the people. The rector then officiated
in Norton every fourth Sunday in summer
and occasionally in winter.

Io 1816 the house of assembly granted
£150 coward the expenses of the church in
Sussex, which is stated to have been the
first assistance ever given the inhabitants
for such purpose, although the late bishop
had encouraged them to hope for some aid
from England. The petition for this assist-
ance, which was presented to the house by
George Lsonard, jr., then one of the mem-
bers for Kings couaty, requests the grant in
order to repair the church at Sussex Vale;
and as Mr. Arnold wrote the society thav
such repairs could not be completed with-
out another £150, old Trinity must by this
time have become quite dilapidated. It was
urgad that the situation of the parish ex-
posed the pe:ple to many incon-
veniences which did not attach to
other settlements where the inhabitants
were not so wholly dependent for support
upon the produce of the earth. Upon these
representations the society made a
grant of £100, and the next year the church
was completed and a decent fence erected
around the lot on which it stood.

Thechurch was of the old-fashioned colon-
ial type, and stood in the middle of the lot;
it was of course built of wood, about 40 feet
by 50 feet in size, and capableof seating from
400 to 450 persons. Against the western
end was built a tower, thirteen or fourteen
feeb square, through which was the main en-
trance to the building. This tower was
about seventy feet in height, including the
spire and open belfry, and was originally

THE MADRAS SCHOOLS. 13

quite imperfectly joined to the frame of the
main building, rendering necessary frequent
repairs, The spire was surmounted by a
gilt vane and weathercock brought from St.
John by the late John C, Vail, Esq., on
horseback. The windows were large and
numerous and had_ semi-circular tops,
but were glazed with small panes of plain
glass. The choir for a long while occupied
seats in the gallery over the entrance, but
in Jater years satin the front pews. The
chancel was semi-circular and rather small,
and the pulpit used to have a sounding-board
over it, All the pews had high backs, and
tight, exclusive doors, snd were sold or
rented in accordance with the policy ad-
vocated by Bishop Inglis. Those between
the two isles were Jong and narrow; while
those between the isles and the walls were
rquare and furnished with seats on at leasb
three sides.

About this time there was quite a revival
of interest in education, and numerous pe-
titions were presented to the legislature for
aid to the newly established Madras schools.
Mr. Arnold bad always taken a deep con-
cern in educational matters, and largely
through his efforts Sussex was at once di-
vided into six districts, in each of which a
school house was erected, and a total of 150
children were soon in attendance, People
of all denominations were much gratified
with the prospects which the new system
held out for the rapid progress of their chil-
dren, and all united with zeal to promote
this{desirable object. The first teachers in
Sussex under the Madras system was Joseph
R. Leggett (who had been lately appointed
teacher of the indian schoo]), and his ac-
complished wife and_ sister-in-law, the
daughters of Dr. John Martin of Penob-
squis,

The Madras schools were so called because
first conducted at Madras by the founder of
the system, the Rev. Dr. Bell. They were
also sometimes known as National schools,
from having been adopted by the British
National Education Society. The first
Madras school in America was opened at
Halifax in 1816 by a Mr. West, to whom
the S. P. G. paid a salary of £200 He
also opened the first school of this kind in
New Brunswick, ov the 13th day of July,
1818, in the old *‘Drury Line theatre” at
York Point. This school for a while re-
ceived aid from the National Society in
England, but on August 13ch, 1819, a pro-
vincial charter was granted to the Madras
schools in New Brunswick. and the next
year the legislature voted £750 in their sup-

port. The system was rapidly adopted,
and in 1819 Madras schools bad been estab-
lished at Fredericton, Kingston and Gage-
town, as well as at Sussex.

The St, Jobn City Gazette of July 19th,
1820, contains in the first annual report of
these schools in this provirce the sclauing
reference to the echools in Kirgs county:

“Upon a representation made by the
Rev. Mr. Arnold of the state of the Madras
Schools, two at Sussex Vale and one at
Norton, in Kirgs county, the sum of £40
has been allowed at the present meeting of
the corporation to Mr. and Mrs. Leggett as
instructors in one of the schools at Sussex
Vale; of the sum of £15 to Miss Martin, the
preceptress in the school at Norton, and of
the further sum of £15 to Mr, Truro, late
preceptor in the other school at Sussex
Vale, amounting in the whole to £70, pay-
able out of the province grant.”

In 1819 Mr. and Mrs, Leggett taught at
Sussex 30 boys and 33 girle, with an aver-
age attendance of 45 Miss Martin, at
Norton, had 32 girls, all of whom are re-
turned as in daily attendance. The attend-
ance at Mr. Truro’s school, which was at
the Upper Corner, is not stated. The Mad-
ras Schools were placed under the super-
vision of the rector of the parish in which
they were established. The poorer children
were admitted free, and in some cases re-
ceived books, etc.; other scholars paid sums
varying from 20 to 40 shillings per annum.
The exciting principle was emulation, and
the boys taught each other, whereby much
labor and expense were saved. LKach school
had an usher from the boys, and the most
competent boys seem to have taken charge
of the classes in turn. The system was said
to have been very purely taught ina Na-
tional School at the Upper Settlement at
Sussex Vale, which was considered one of
the most perfect models of the Central
School in London ever seen in New Bruns-
wick,

Mr. Arnold continued to visit Norton
every fourth Sunday. During the summer,
service was held in the church, but as the
building was not yet wholly finished the
people collected during the winter season in
some private house. It being, however,
di fticult thus to accommodate all who were
dispesed to attend, the society in 1819,
granted £100 in aid of this church, and the
legislature were petitioned for like assist-
ance. In 1821 the church wardens had ex-
pended nearly all of the society’s liberal
donation, and a contract was made to finish
the inside during that year,

14 THE REY. OLIVER ARNOLD.

The church at Hampton had by this time
been ccmpleted. The pewsin it were sold
on the 7th of June, 1817, for over £242 The
first sermon in it was preacked by the Rev.
Elias Scovil, on the 26th of Auwg., 1818,
from James 3c.,17v. Ip the next spring
the S. P. G, sent out the Rev. James Cock-
son as missionary at Hampton, and he en-
tered the pulpit of the new church there for
the first time on the 27th day of June, 1819,
taking for his text, Luke 1l5c.,10v. Soon
after his arrival, having secured a residence
between Hampton and Norton, Mr. Cock-
son expressed a readiness torelieve Mr.
Arnold from the duties of Norton, as well
as Hampton; and as the latter was advanc-
ing in years, and the frequent journey
of 20 miles on horse-back required great
exertion, and, besider, two other
churches on his extensive mission
needed his attention, the new arrangement
proved highly satisfactory. He hed now
preached at Norton every third or fourth
Sunday for more thantwenty years. His
stipend, which had been increased to £200
per annum, was continued at the same
amount after he was relieved of Norton.
He did not rest idJe at Sussex, but gave to
his favorite occupation of school inspecting
what time be could spare from parochial
duties. In March, 1822, he visited Butter-
put Ridge, apparently for the firsv time.
He describes it as a small settlement, dis-
tant about 30 miles from Sussex, and lying
near the juncticn of the four counties—
Kings, Queens, Westmorland and Northum-
berland. (Kent was not set off from North-
umberland till the year 1826.) At this
place Mr. Arnold performed service both
morning and evening toa very reepectable
covgregation, There weretwo small schools
here, but the pupils were inevfficiently sup-
plied with books. Atthe Vale the cor gre-
gations had much increased, and were very
attentive and regular. The parish of Snus-
sex was said to contain in the year 1825 a
population of 1833 soule, and nearly all of
whom were stated to belong to the Estab-
lished Church.

A letter dated the 13th of February,1823,
and written to the S. P. G. by the Rev.
Robert Willis,then rector of Trinity church,
St. Jobn, and ecclesiastical commissary to
the bishop of Nova Scotia, contains so many
interesting de ails that the portion of ib
relative to Sussex may be quoted:

‘*Here is an old established mission and a
respectable church in tolerably good repair.
This parish, like Hampton, is tolerably
populous and the people attached to the

Established Church. Hitherto, however;
they have not been sufficiently attentive to
their missionary in regard to salary and a
suitable house or residence. The people are
in circumstances todo scmething for their
clergyman; but they seemed to have for-
gotten, if ever they had been acquainted
with it, that something was expected from
them for the missionary. Mr. Arnold has
lived long and happily with them, and was
unwilling, perbaps, to risk an interruption
ot that happiness by proposing or attempt-
ing toenforce any measure of this kind.
Having covsulted Mr. Arnold and concur-
ring in opinion that a favorable opportunity
now offered of having these matters
laid before them by the bishop’s officer,
a meetirg of the vestry and parishioners
was called, The people having been in-
formed that I wason an official visit to the
missions in the province for the purpose of
ascertaining their state that I might report
thereon tothe bishop ard society, ] was re-
ceived with great attention. I brovght to
their remembrarce the tirgular advantages
they bad been erjoying for so many years
by the residence of a regular clergyman
among them; acquainted them with the
wishes and views of the scciety in such
cases,and what it was expected they should
do for their missionary. Having thus re-
mirded them of tleir cbligations, they ex-
pressed in very strorg terms their sense of
gratitude to the venerable society, their high
esteemfor Mr. Arnold, and deep regret
that they should so long have _ neg-
lected him. They entered a_ resolu-
tion on their books, that it was the unani-
mous opinion of the meeting that a glebe
house should be built, and a paper was im-
mediately prepared and subscribed in a
liberal way to promote it. The Hon. George
Leonard, a member of the society, the lib-
eral supporter of every good institution,
headed the Jist with a handsome sum, in
addition to the glebe, a fine lot of Jand of
fifty (sic) acres which he formerly gave to
thechurch; being in the centre ofthe parith,
it is or will be valuable—it was a parv of
his own estate in this place. On this Jand
the house is to be built. The spirit excited
on this occasion in the people was truly
gratifying tome, and highly honorable to
them; it is such as I trust will animate all
their exertions tillthe work is finished.
From this and other circumstances I have
good reason to believe that the house will be

ina forward state, if not finished, in
the course of the next summer,
There are a few remote settle-

oe hints rie

te ke; Ps ete

tee; wets

oe raise

‘arte pay pi oe

Knlete te dias wii ;
u nanaites page ae ei We .

one, it

MPTRO RM CUTS
pe: wie Peary Mie : :
i Gave: Shea ANY iagias ee ete m ee

ex's ae ‘<

OO oe Ne ete

4

hese. ed Be nat bebe’ ile

=

x os ten BK ee Tae Sey pe

%
a

THE OLD RECTORY.

BUILDING A PAKSONAGE. 15

ments in the interior, which Mr. Arnold
occasionally visits, and where at stated
periods he cfficiates and administers the
sacraments. Sussex Vale is a beautiful and
fertile part of the province. Mr. Arnold
has a very good congregation, but not quite
s0 numerous, perhaps, as that at Hampton.
The distance between Norton and Sussex
Vale churches is twenty miles,

The National school of this parish is in
the building called the College for civil'zing
Indians. The master, Mr. Leggett, teaches
on the Madras system, and is under the pro-
tection and encouregement of the Madras
institution of New Brunswick. He re-
ceives an equitable propcrtion of the legis-
lative grant, which the institution has hith-
erto received every year from the province
in support of these schools, books and all
the necessary apparatus for the system
gratis, and every assistance they can give.
Mr. Leggett is also the society’s schoolmas-
ter, and is under the superintending care of
the missionary.”

The next year, 1824, Dr. Willis wrote:
‘SAt Sussex Vale the work (of building a
parsonage) has been delayed under the hope
that a convenient house which was for sale,
adjoining the glebe, might be purchased on
easier terms than a new house could be
built. This project was favored by Mr.
Arnold, who lately informed me that they
hoped yet to be able to purchase this house,
which would answer all his expectations.”

The house referred to was probably that
pulled down this summer, and known to the
present generation as the Frank Buchanan
house. Ib had been built for Robert Vail
by Mark and Edward Dole, brothers of the
late Enoch Dole, and has long been consid-
ered one of the oldest houses in Sussex. Mr.
Vai), who was the grandfather of the late
Dr. Vail, died in the year 1817, and soon
after, tnough itis not now known exactly
when, Mr. Arnold began to occupy the
house asa rectory. He seems to have re-
sided there forfthe’- remainder of his active
ministry. The new rectory was not com-
pleted as soon as Dr. Willis expected that
it would be, and it does not appear that Mr,
Arnold ever occupied it.

The next information furnished by the
S. P. G. reports respecting Sussex is con-
tained in an extract’ from a letter written
to the society by Dr. John Inglis, third
bishop of Nova Scotia. He says: ‘“Tuesday
the 18th (July, 1826), we proceeded to
Sussex Vale, nineteen miles, where we ar-
rived at alate hour. Mr. Arnold and the
principal gentlemen of his parish met us six

miles from the place. Mr. Arnold, having
been here mary years, has gone through
much useful labor, and has the comfort of
knowing that it has not been in vain. He
bas witnessed great improvement of every
kind; a large increare to the popula-
tion, and a corresponding enlargement
of the church, which is prosperous here.
Wed., July 19., we were in the church
at this place before ten o'clock, and although
a gepacious building it was very much
crowded, It was consecrated Trinity with
its buria] grcund, which is at some distance
from it, I preached es usual to an atten-
tive audience and corfiimed 138 perscns,
who as well as their respectable pastor
seemed earnestly affected. In the afternoon
we were acccmpanied some miles on our
way by some ventlemen of this place.”

In March, 1826, the society resolved, in
consequence of the advancing years and
failing strength of the now aged missionary,
to provide bim an assistant in the person of
his third son, Horatio Nelson Arnold. The
Jatter reported to the society under date of
January 2nd, 1829, his arrival in Sussex;
and after mentioning the preparations he
had made for his successor in the parish of
Granville, in the county of Annapolis,
N.S. (where he had been missionary for
five years); the solemn reflections his
Jeave taking had inspired, and the stormy
and perilous passsge of several days in
crossing the Bay of Fundy, he proceeds:

**As soon as we fet off from St. John we
hurried on to the Vale,and J was in time to
assist my father the next Sunday (the second
in Advent), and have since been with him
in performing the duty on Christmas and
New Year’s days, Though one of the old-
est on the society’s list of missionaries, J am
thankful to say he still enjoys very tolerable
health for his time of life. He has per-
formed the duties of this extensive parish
for along period of years, and has very
seldom had assistance or relief from any
quarter. It is, therefore, gratifying to him,
the people, and myself also, that the vener-
able society have formed an arrangement by
which he can get occasional relief in the
discharge of the duties of his parish. I[
have not yet made arrangements for much
visiting duty, as the weather bas been very
severe,and I have not yet been able to bring
up my baggage from St. John. ‘Tis true I
did last Sunday preach at a part of the
parish which my father has long been in the
habit of visiting, where I found an attentive
people, who seemed gratified that they were
attended to. Ishall hope before long to

16 THE REV. OLIVER ARNOLD.

make more extensive and more regular
visits. My father bas had a lame hand,
which prevents his writing just now. He
unites with me in every respeet to the
venerable society. ”

It has been stated that in or about 1830
Mr. Arnold took charge of the mission at
Springfield, but diligent irnquisy has failed
to corroborate this assertion. The S. P. G.
report for 1832 mentions bim as still mis-
sionary at Sussex, with H. N. Arnold as as-
sistant missionary: and the former had in
consequence of his increased infirmities
been obliged to confine his services to the
parish church and discontinue his visits to
the more distant parts of the parish. It is
thus clear that he did not svpply Spring-
field while residing at the Vale, and local
tradition is positive that he continued here
for the remainder of his life. He and his
wife had, soon atter the arrival of H. N,
Arnold as assistant,taken up their residence
with their second son, George Nathan
Arnold, on the premises now occupied by
the latter’s grandson, Horatio Arnold; and
here both the aged couple finished their
earthly course. Mrs, Arnold was the first
to depart, but at last the summons came
for the venerable missionary. The close
of his long and well-spent life may
be best described in the words of
his son and successor. ‘Though his health
had been a good deal impaired during the
last year, it was not tilla few months be-
fore his death that he was prevented from
being present at the public services of the
church. Havirg always been accustomed
to take much exercise, which the extent of
his missionary duty rendered necessary, he
was bo sooner confined to the house than
his strength rapidly failed him, But even
till the day ot his death he was enabled to
walk about his room with a little assistance.
It pleased the Almighty to grant that his
departure from time into eternity was so
easy that those who were looking on were
scarcely sensible of the moment when the
spirit was released from the body. He de-
parted this life on the ninth day of April,
1834, in the seventy-ninth year of his age,
and the forty-third of his ministry. His
mortal remains were followed to the grave
by a very large number of the inhabitants
of the parish, who thus manifested their last
tokens of respect for their aged pastor.
Rev. Messrs. Scovil and Walker condusted
the solemn services of the day.” He was
interred beside his wife in the cemetery at
Upper Corner.

Mrs, Arnold’s

As atated already,

maiden name was Wiggins, and
this she seems to have retained,
for a short while at least, after her
arrival in St. John, for lot No. 375 on the
N. W. corner of King street east and Went-
worth street was drawn by a Charlotte
Wiggins. She was born on Thursday, the
eleventh day of July, A.D. 1766, at New-
burgh. N Y., and was, when she married
Mr. Arnold, the widow of Stephen Hvs-
tice, a loyalist, who bad drawn lot No. 75
on the west side of Germain street, about
midway between Queen street and St.James
street, This lot, together with lot No. 790
on the N. W. corner of Duke and Charlo! te
streets, Mr. and Mrs, Arnold conveyed in
1796, under authority ef an order in coun-
cil bearing date March 27th, 1789, and men-
tioning Mrs. Arnold as administratrix of
her late busband’s estate. Her only child
by her first busband was Elizaheth, who
married Col. Robert Scott of Salisbury,
Westmorland Co. Mrs, Arnold died on the
23rd day of November, 1831, aged 65 years,
and she is yet remembered as a most pious
and amiable lady, distinguished alike by
her domestic virtues, her sffability to her
friends, and her unceasing kindness to the
poor and afflicted. Mr, and Mrs, Arnold
had the following family, viz.:

1. Thomas Oliver, born October 13th, 1787.
He reside? for many years where Nelson Ar-
nold nw lives, but died on Ward’s Creek; mar-
ried. first, Aone, daughter of Robert Vail,
Ksq., of Sussex. by whom he had twelve cbil-
dren; and second, his cousin Martha, daughter
of Jobn Wiggins, ef Portland, ard widow of
sae late Robert Shives. He died March 8th,

Vie

2. George Nathan, bern September 3rd, 1789,
m rried Eliza Ann, daughter «f Samuel Hal:
lett, of Snssex. He had nine children, and died
in Mry of 1846 in his 57th year,

3. Charlette Hanvah torn April 27th, 1792,
married John C. Vail, Esq., of Sussex; had a
fami y of eight children, and died March 26th,
1835, in her 43rd year.

4. William, born December 2nd, 1794, and
died Decemher 21«t, 1794.

5. Mary Ann, born May 25th, 1797; married
John Barberie son of C 1. John B+rherie. They
h» d severa) children, and died at Norton.

6 Horatio Nelson (a short sketch of wh)se
life is given post.)

7. Samuel Edwin born August 23rd, 1805,
more clo ely resembled his father in appear-
ance than any other of the family. He ente'ed
Kings college, Winrsor, N. &.. in 1822, gradu-
ated thers BR. A. in 1825, M. A. in 1827,and D. C.
L. in 1836 In 1828 he was appointed mission:
ary at Shediac, the first clergyman of the
Church of England to resite at that plice. He
remained there till ahout 1832. He married
Mary Ann, daughter of James Robertson of °t,
John, and after her de th h> married her
sister, Annie Maria. By his first wife he had
one daughter, and by his second wife a son and

HIS APPEAKANCE AND CHARACTER. 17

a daughter. He was very clever in both senses
of the term. Some time after leaving Shediac
he removed to the United States, and for many
yo conducted a large boarding school in

orcentown, N. J. The greater part of his life,
subsequent to leaving to New Brunswick, was
spent in teaching, but for some years he seems
to have had charge of a parish. He died in
Maryland in 1885,

In person the first Rector of Sussex was
goodlooking and. of commanding appearance;
somewhat over six feet in height; and broad-
shouldered, though neither very thin nor
very stout. His mouth was firm and reso-
lute, and hisnose prominent and aquiline;
his eyes were blue but his complexion rather
dark, and his countenance though grave was
kindly. In his prime he was of a very active
and vigorous habit of body, and as mention-
ed above was fond of constant exercise. He
delighted in having good horses, and was
an excellent rider; which in his times was
essential to a successful missionary. There
were then no carriages; if there had been
the roads were not fit to use them; and for
at least twenty years after Mr. Arnold’s
death all distant appointments were reached
on horseback.

In business matters he was honorable,
prudent and sagacious. He commanded
respect and was naturally revered;
and though not so affable as _ his
son, yet beneath a_ dignified and
serious manner, which some mistakenly at-
tributed to haughtiness, he carried a nature
both friendly and genial. He was a tem-
perate, moral and good living man; indeed
it bas been remarked that there was not a
single stain upon his character.

Though the troubles of the times immedi-
ately succeeding his graduation, and the
diversified and urgent matters that en-

grossed his maturer years, left but little op-
portunity for a continuance of his academi-
cal studies, yet the gratitude which he con-
stantly expressed for the books sent out by
the society, and his frequent requests for
further favors of a similar nature, furnish
abundant evidence that his tastes were liter-
ary and that the interest in educational
affairs which first impelled him to Sussex,
and which lasted as long as life itself, was
personal and vital, and by no means merely
theoretical. The few productions of his pen
that are still extant mark him as master of
a lucid and nervous style and possessed of a
copious and elegant vocabulary.

Asa pastor he was much respected. His
style of address was plain and earnest.
From the dozen or more of texts which
he is known to have spoken from, it may
be inferred that his preaching was practical
and profitable rather than philosophical or
profound. He always wrote and read his
sermons, many of which were regarded as
excellent discourses. He was a clergyman
zealous for his church and order; energetic
in promoting the cause of religion; possibly
more attached to matters of form than his
successor, yet assiduous in his attentions
to the sick and afflicted, and indefatigable
in seeking out the solitary settler and in
carrying to all the comforts and consolations
of the gospel. His lot was cast in times
fraught with toil, discouragement, privation
and suffering for the actors therein, but
pregnant with opportunities of doing noble
work for their country as wll as for their
God. His earthly reward it is to have in-
dissolubly connected his name with this
parish and to be forever remembered as ‘‘a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed. ’

THE INDIAN COLLEGE.

No account of the life and work of Mr.
Arnold would be complete withoutsome men-
tion of the Indian academy or college which
was one of the most important of the early
institutions of Susgex.

A few words may first be said regarding
the English society under whose auspices
this school was established.

The name of John Eliot, ‘“The Apostle of
the Indians,” claims an honorable place in
the history of New England during the
seventeenth century. He was born in Eng-
land in the year 1604, and educated at Cam-
bridge university, after which he appears to
have entered the ministry of the established
church. Shortly after his arrival in Boston
in 1631, he conceived the idea of devoting
his life to the service of the American
Indians. After years spent in careful pre-
paration he entered upon his work in the
year 1646.

During the first years of his labors, Eliot
kept up a constant correspondence with hia
friends in England, among whom it should
be mentioned were some of the most emi-
nent of the non-conformist ministers through
whose efforts the interest in his work rapid-
ly extended. The consequence was that
on the 27th day of July, 1649, the
Long Parliament, under the protectorate of
Oliver Cromwell, passed an ordinance for
‘“‘The promoting and propagating of the
gospel of Jesus Christin New England by
the erection of a corporation to be called by
the name of the President and Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in New Eng-
land, to receive and dispose of moneys for
that purpose.” It wasfurther ordered that
a general collection should be made in all the
parishes in England and Wales on behalf
of the work to be promoted for the good of
the Indians. So general was the
interest manifested that the universities
issued public letters advocating the scheme,
and the appeal was even extended to the
army.

By the com bined efforts thus put forth a
fund of considerable amount was raised, and
this notwithstanding the miserable condi-
tion into which England was thrown by
the civil war so long raging within her

borders and not yet concluded. The
sum raised was vested in a corpora-
tion of which the first president was Judge
Steele and the first treasurer Henry Ash-
urst; anda portion of the money was in-
vested in lands yielding a yearly income of
five or six hundred pounds. By the assist-
ance of the society Eliot was enabled to
proceed with the printing of the scriptures
in the Indian tongue.

After the restoration of the monarchy, on
the 7th day of February, 1662, in the 14th
year of the reign of our late Sovereign Lord,
King Charles II, the charter of the
society was renewed and the powers
under it were enlarged; and the corpor-
ation was now styled ‘'The Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in New Eng-
land and the parts adjacent in America.”

The first name on the list of the corpora-
tion was Lord Clarendon; the Hon. Robert
Boyle was appointed governor. The latter
was undoubtly the great animating'spirit in
England in promoting the new company’s
work. During his life he devoted much
of his time and wealth to the spir-
itual improvement of the nativesof America,
and at his death he bequeathed a handsome
legacy to the society.

The whole revenue of the corporation
does not appear to have exceeded £600 a
year, but by means of this they secured the
services of from twelve to sixteen mission-
aries and teachers, English and Indian—
to whom they gave stipends of from £10 to

£30. They also erected schools and sup-
plied them with books—many hun-
dreds of Eliot’s translation of the
Bible were circulated amongst the
Indians through the assistance of
the New England company; and _ by
Eliot’s untiring efforts many of the

Indian tribes in Massachusetts, Plymouth,
Martha’s Vineyard .and, Nantucket were
Christianized.

The secretary of the S. P. G., in a letter
written in 1878, speaking of the “Company
for the Propagation of thei,Gospel in New
England and the Parts Adjacent in Amer-
ica,” says: ‘‘It is still in existence, for it

ITS FOUNDATION. 19

has endowments, but receives no subscrip-
tions; and I have understood that its gov-
ernors are not necessarily in communion
with the Church of England. It was in no
sense the germ of the 8. P. G.”

This company is therefore not to be con-
founded with the society formed about
forty years later, and commonly known as
“The Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts,” or
more briefly, ‘‘the 8. bP. G.” Littleis known
here of the particulars of the work of the
former company prior to the revolution, but it
probably maintained several schools and mis-
sions in New England and other American
colonies. The objects of the company were,
in short, to civilize and educate the native
Indians; but after the year 1783 it seems to
have ceased its operations in those parts of
America to benefit which it was primarily
organized, and to have devoted its attention
exclusively to British North America. On
the 14th day of June, 1786, the company
appointed as its commissioners or managers
in New Brunswick the following gentlemen,
viz : The lieutenant governor, Thos. Carle-
ton; Hon. G. D. Ludlow, chief justice; Hon.
Isaac Allen, Jonathan Odell, Geo. Leonard,
Ward Chipman, Jonathan Bliss, Wm. Paine
and John Coffin, empowering them or any
three or more of them to engage and pay
suitable teachers, and to provide books,
clothes and implements for such of the
Indians as should profess the Protestant re-
ligion, and to place such Indians in English
families or with English teachers to be in-
structed in the English language and in the
trade and mystery of some lawful calling
and in other liberal arts and sciences, etc.

Under these commissioners there were
established in New Brunswick three Indian
schools, viz: one at Woodstock, superin-
tended by the Rev. Frederick Dibblee; an-
other at Sheffield, taught by aman named
Gervas Say; and thethird at Sussex,of which,
as has been stated elsewhere,the Rev, Oliver
Arnold was undoubtedly the organizer and
first teacher. When Mr. Arnold took Holy
Orders and became missionary at Sussex he
was succeeded by Mr. Elkanah Morton as
master of the Indian school. The first school-
house, built in 1787, stood in the northeast
corner of the lot on which Trinity church is
now located and by the small gate leading
to that building. The report to the S. P. G.
descriptive of Dr. Inglis’ episcopal tour in
1792, mentions the school at Sussex as then
being under the care of Mr. Morton, who
had between 20 and 30 white scholars be-

sides eight Indian children. The latter were
boarded and clothed in the school as well as
instructed there. The bishop visited the
school at Sussex, and it appeared to him
that the Indians learned as fast as the
whites, and were fond of associating with
them, They repeated the catechism very
fluently, and were also proficient in reading
and writing. The teachers had for
years a dual function, owing to the small-
ness of the number of scholars and the in-
ability of the white people to pay a separate
instructor for their children. As teacher of
the Indian children, the master was paid by
the New England company, and was re-
sponsible to the commissioners; but in re-
spect of the white scholars, he was paid by
the S. P. G., and was under the superin-
tendence of the missionary. And this con-
nection with the S. P. G. has proved a for-
tunate one for us, because it is trom the
reports of that society we get the most of
our information respecting the working of
the Indian school.

In 1795 Mr. Arnold reported the erection
of a room for the Indian school, 80x30 feet,
which was so constructed as to accommodate
the English children as well as the natives.
This building was situate very nearly on
the site where now stands the residence of
William H. White, Esq., and faced toward
the present post office. The school room
was in the western end and was a high and
airy apartment, embracing both stories; the
end next the Ward’s Creek road was fitted
into apartments for the teacher and _ his
family. The building is described as hav-
ing been quite long and low and uncouth in
appearance. It was surmounted by a belfry,
and around the eastern end and southern
side ran a balcony supported on posts, the
stairs leading to which were at the end,
while under the side were the doors to the
cellars and storerooms underneath.

The land on which the college stood was
conveyed to the company in August, 1793,
by Jasper Belding, afterward one of the
members of the house of assembly for Kings
county. The deed expresses the land to be
for the purpose of erecting a building for the
use of the natives; and as another deed by
Mr. Belding dated October 10th, 1794,
mentions the Indian college as then stand-
ing, we may conclude that it was ready for
use in the autumn of that year. The orig-
inal lot comprised all the land bounded
eastwardly by the Ward’s Creek road,
northwardly by the old post road, west-
wardly by lands now owned by Nelson

20 THE INDIAN COLLEGE.

Arnold, Eeq., and southwardly by the south-
erly line of Simeon H. White’s lot. The
area is stated in one deed as 12 acres; but
another, which is probably more accurate,
gives it as 17 acres.

Mr. Morton does not seem to have re-
mined more than a year after the new col-
lege was opened. He was a brother of Capt.
Geo. Morton, who came from Cornwallis,
N. S., as one of the first settlers of Penobs-
quis. Elkanah Morton lived for a while at
least on the Rober$ Vail farm near the
Upper Corner. He wasa justice of the
peace, and did a considerable portion of tre
simple conveyancing of those days. His
salary from the S. P. G for instructing the
white children was £15 per annum, but his
stipend as Indian teacher isnotexactly known
though probably about the same amount.
After leaving Sussex he removed to
Digby, N. S., where he _ became
judge of probate for the Western
division of Nova Scotia, and judge of
common pleas. He also engaged in trading.
He was quite lame, having had a leg shot off
by accident at a general muster. He was
the grandfather of Finimore E. Morton,
E:q.,Q C., the present judge of probate
for Kings County.

The year 1796 seems to have passed with-
out any regular teacher in the Indian school,
at least no record is extant of that year.
In 1797, however, we finda Mr. Jeremiah
Regan wielding the ferule, and receiving
from the 8, P. G, £10 for teaching the white
children; and though very little indeed is
now known of him, it may be concluded
that he was a satisfactory teacher from the
fact that he remained in the company’s em-
ploy till his death in February or March, 1815.
His salary was only £16 per annum as In-
dian teacher, besides about an equal amount
from theS. P. G., and no doubt he managed
@ farm in addition toteaching. Some plans
give the name of Regan on the lots at pre-
sent occupied by Thomas Ryan; and it is
clear that a man named Regan lived in that
vicinity, from a curious document registered
in Kings courty records. This is dated
Sept. 19th, 1792, and purports to be a ‘‘list
of Principle Freeholders summoned to cer-
tify the necessity of having a road laid from
the main road at Allan Wager’s bars to the
forks of Trout River; also a private road
from George Leonard’s gate to Jeremiah
Regan and James M. Fairchild.” Mr.
Regan was thus a person of some local im-
portance five years before his apppointment
as teacher,

This old road was well known as the
‘*‘Regan road” long after Jeremiah himself
was forgotten. As the lots referred to were
afterwards owned by the last teacher of the
academy, whose full name was Joseph Regan
Leggett, it is quite possible he was some
connection of Jeremiab Regan. The latter
died in the winter ot 1815, and at the be-
ginning of the next school year, March 24th,
1815, Mr. Walter Dibblee was placed in
charge.

This gentleman was born at Stamford,
Conn., about the year 1764; and in the list
of the families that embarked for St. Jobn
on board the Union Transport at Hunting-
ton Bay, April 11th, 1783, he is stated to
be a farmer by occupation. He was a cousin
of the Rev. Frederick Dibblee and drew lot
No. 117 in St. John, on the east side of Ger-
main street, below Horsfield. Soon after-
wards removing to Kingston, he was elected
# member of the second vestry of the church
there, March 28th, 1785 In 1789 he was
appointed school master at Maugerville,
having been recommended by the Rev. John
Beardsley as son of the old and valuable 8.
P. G. missionary at Stamford in New
England; but in 1791 Mr. Beardsley re-
ported to the S, P. G. that Mr. Dibblee had
removed to Canada. Just when he returned
to New Brunswick is not certainly known,
but from 1795 to 1799 he was again teacher
at Maugerville, In 1808 he had a school at
Kingston, and received from the N. E. com-
pany £8 as one year’s salary for instructing
the Indians there. He appears to have con-
tinued to teach at Kingston till his removal to
Sussex, but as he was paid for only a few of
these years, it may be concluded that there
was no regular Indian school at Kingston.
Walter Bates, who also had come from
Stamford, thus refers to Walter Dibblee
in his entertaining history of Henry More
Smith:

‘“‘The prison was then (in the autumn of
1814) kept by Mr. Walter Dibble, a man of
learning ard talents, who for several years
had been afflicted with a painful disease, so
that for a great part of the time he was con-
fined tothe house, and frequently to his
room, in the county courb house, where he
taught a school, by which means, together
with the fees and perquisites of the jail and
court house, afforded him a comfortable
living tor himseif and family, consisting of his
wife and daughter, and one son named John,
about nineteen years of age, who constant-
ly attended his father. It may be also
necessary to mention that Mr. Dibble was

ITS LAST TEACHER. 21

one of the principal members of the Masonic
Lodgeheld at Kingston and wasin high esteem
among them; besides he was regarded by all
who knew him as a man of honesty and in-
tegrity, and well worthy to fill any situation
of reeponsibility or trust.”

From the same interesting work we learn
that Mr. Dibbleejleft Kingston on the 11th
of March, 1815, to take charge of the Indian
Academy at Sussex. This position he held
till failing health obliged him to relinquish
it on the 24ch of May,1817. He died on the
lst of the following June, and his son John
finished out the school year.

The next, and as it proved, the last teacher
of the Indian Academy wasJ oseph R. Leggett.
A native of New York, he had early come
to New Brunswick, and had, probably about
the year 1798, married Mary, daugbter of
Dr. John Martin, who lived at Penobsquis
on the farm now occupied by Daniel Mc-
Leod. Mr. and Mrs. Leggett had three
sons. David Denison, the eldest, was a
highly respected teacher in St. John, and
died there Oct. 6th, 1831, at the age of 32
years; William Martin, the second, was
for a while a Methodist minister, and sub-
sequently an actor in the United States,
but is perhaps most favorably known as the
first poet of Sussex; Joseph Cameron, the
youngest, married Dec. 3lst, 1830, Char-
lotte Lucretia, fifth daughter of the late
Henry Leonard, Esq. Both Joseph R.
Leggett and his wife possessed good edu-
cation, literary tastes and refined manners,
and were considered excellent teachers.
They resided in the Academy until the
breaking up of that establishment, after
which they retired to their own house, the
celebrated Lansdale Cottage, on the farm
mentioned above. Mrs. Leggett died on
the 9th of May, 1854, at the age of 76, and
her husband in June, 1863, av the age of 96.

It is not known just when the schools at
Sheffield and Woodstock were closed, but
probably they did not continue open much
later than the year 1800. In March, 1810,
it was ordered in a committee of council
that a tract of land in the neighborhood of
Sussex Vale might be assigned to the In-
dians who had been apprenticed out under
the direction of the gospel board 80 soon as
their indentures expired, in lots not exceed-
ing 50 acres to any one Indian; to be allotted
them under such a title as might secure
their possession of their respective lots so
long as they should continue to reside on
them and to cultivate them, but no power
of alienation to be given them. No lands

are known to have been actually granted
under these provisions, but they go to show
that some endeavors were from time to time
made by the authorities to promote the
civilization of the natives.

The Rev. Robert Willis, in his letter to
the bishop of Nova Scotia, which is in-
cluded in the S. P. G. report for 1823,
after mentioning the Madras or National
school for white children taught by Mr.
Leggett, gives some interesting details re-
specting the Indian academy. He says:
‘*The young Indians are taught in the saine
room with the scholars of the parish, but in
separate classes. The number of them is
only fourteen and they are instructed en-
tirely on the Madras system and appear to
make good progress in reading and writing.
So far this institution seems well constitut-
ed and guarded,

‘‘The New Eagland company,to whom the
establishment belongs and who defray all
the expenses attending the civilization of
the young Indianz, have lately sent Mr.
Bromley, the master of the Lancasterian
school in Halifax, to enquire into the state
of the establishment and the success that
might attend an enlargement of the plan of
their operations.

‘This college, if properly managed, might
be productive of much good. So tar from
the Indians manifesting any jealousy or dis-
like to the plan they voluntarily bring
their children from the woods for admis-
sion; the committee have not to seek for or
to entice them to come. There are gen-
erally more applicants than can be ad-
mitted. The plan of the college is, that
when the children are admitted and clothed
they are apprenticed out to different families
in the settlement, who have their services as
servants, on condition that they send them
at certain times to the college or school for
instruction, Several Indians who have
been brought up at this college, and are
now grown to manhood, are settled in the
parish as farmers or mechanics, and seem
to manifest no disposition to return to their
roving and savage habits. There is a con-
siderable quantity of land belonging to this
institution, but the building itself is almost
in a state of dilapidation and will soon re-
quire material repairs.”

In September of the next year, 1824, Mr.
Leggett reports to the N, E. company that
twenty-one Indian children had been for
the past six months under his tuition and
inspection, and apprenticed under Ward
Chipman, Esq., superintendent of Indians,

22 THE INDIAN COLLEGE.

They were of ages ranging from nine years
to nineteen, and averaging thirteen years
and nine montbs; and, although the majori-
ty were placed in families near enough to
the academy to admit of their daily attend-
ance on the classes there, yet several were
bound out as far distant as Penobsquis and
Norton, It can hardly be supposed that
under these circumstances they received a
great amount of systematic training; indeed,
no mention is anywhere made of any at-
temptatany time to teach them more thanthe
catechism and the arts of reading and writing.

The following isa copy of one of the inden-
tures of apprenticeship, which were drafted
by Ward Chipman, Jr., at a cost to the
company of £5.

‘*‘Whereas, the society or company incor-
porated in London by royal charter for the
propagation of the Gospel in New England,
and parts adjacent in America, was insti-
tuted for the purpose, among other things,
of educating and placing out the heathen
natives and their children in English fam-
ilies, in some trade, mystery or lawful call-
ing; and whereas, Joseph Sis, a native of
the Saint John tribe of Indians, in the
Province of New Brunswick, is desirous of
placing out his son, named John Ketch Sis,
in the family of Oliver Arnold, Clerk, of the
parish of Sussex, in the County of Kings, in
the same province, and the said John Ketch
Sis is willing to be placed outin the same

family, and the said Oliver Arnold
hath consented to _ receive the said
John Ketch Sis into his family,
to be educated in manner here-

inafter mentioned, upon condition of receiv-
ing such sum of money for the care, trouble
and expense attending the same as the said
company in London shall hereafter direct,
not exceeding twenty pounds current money
of the said Province per year during the
term hereinafter mentioned.

Now this Iodenture witnesseth that the
said John Ketch Sis, an infant of the age of
seventeen years, hath put himself, and by
these presents, by and with the consent of the
said Joseph Sis, his father, doth voluntarily
and of his own free will and accord put
himself an apprentice to the said Oliver
Arnold to learn the art, trade and
mystery of a farmer and after the manner
of an apprentice to serve from the day of
the date hereof for and during and until
the full end and term of four years next
ensuing the date of these presents during
all which time the said apprentice his said
master faithfully shall serve and his lawful

commands everywhere readily obey; he
shall do no damage to his said master,
nor see it tobe done by others without
letting or giving notice thereof to his said
master; he shall not absent himself day nor
night from his said master’s service without
his leave, but in all things behave himself as
a faithful apprentice ought todo during the
said term; and thesaid master shall use the ut-
most of hisendeavors to teach or cause to be
taught or instructed the said apprentice in
the trade or mystery of a farmer, and pro-
cure and provide for him sufficient meat,
drink, apparel, lodging and washing fitting
for an apprentice during the said term of
four years, and shall also endeavor to teach
or cause to be taught the said apprentice to
read and write, by providing him with
proper schooling for that purpose during the
said term, and shall also endeavor to teach
or cause to be taught or instructed the said
apprentice in the principles of the Protes-
tant religion, and shall at the end of the
said term furnish, supply and give to the
said apprentice one full suit of clothes
without any compensation therefor, and
also one pair of steers worth eight pounds
sterling money of Great Britain, one cow
worth four pounds like money, one axe
worth seven shillings and sixpence like
money, and one hoe worth four shillings like
money, for all which said last mentioned
articles the said company in London shall
pay, or cause to be paid to the said master,
the said several values over and above the
above mentioned allowance.

Provided thatif the said Oliver Arnold
shall not in all things comply with and per-
form the said Covenants on his part to be
performed, then and from thenceforth the
said allowance in money from the said com-
pany shall cease and be no longer payable,
and also provided always that the said in-
corporated company shall be at liberty if
they shall think fibat any time during the
said term, to remove or cause to be removed
the said apprentice to any academy, schocl
or college that may be by the said company
instituted or established in the said province
for the better educating and instructing
the said heathen natives, and that from the
time of such removal, these presents and
every part thereof shall cease to operate;
and for the performance of all and singular the
Covenants and agreements aforesaid the said
parties bind themselves each to the other
firmly by these presents,

In witness whereof the said parties have
hereunto interchangeably set their hands

COST OF ITS MAINTENANCE, 53

and seals, the eleventh day of March, in the
year of our Lord, one thousand eight hun-
dred and six.
his
Sgd. Joon X Kercu SIs (LS.)
mark,
his
Sgd. JosEpH X Sis (1.8.)
mark,
Sgd. OLIVER ARNOLD (L S.)

Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of
Sgd. GrorGE PITFIELD.
Sgd. Exiza PITFIELD.

Be it remembered, that on the eleventh
day of March, 1806, personally appeared
before me, George Pitfield, Esquire, one of
His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the
County of Kings, in the Province of New
Brunswick, the above named Joseph Sis and
the above named John Ketch Sis, who being
by the said Justice examined whether they
had any objection to the above written In-
denture, and having severally declared that
they had none, I, the said Justice, do there-
fore hereby certify the same accordingly.

(Sgd) GEORGE PITFIELD,
Justice of the Peace.”

The book in which Ward Chipman, Esq.,
the secretary and treasurer of the com-
pany for New Brunswick, kept the
accounts of the company’s dis-
bursements in this province, is now in
the possession of the Rev. W. O. Raymond,
of St. John. From it much information
may be had as to the practical work-
ing of the school, as these accounts
extend from the year 1807 to the year 1831.
The operations of the company were then
wholly confined to Kings county,bubt the an-
nual expenditure was much larger thanis ordi-
narily supposed. ‘The whole amount dis-
bursed during the 24 years mentioned was
£18,246 currency, or $73,056, being an
average of $3,044 per year. The largest
expenditure in any one year was $5,560,
which included about $180 paid Samuel
Fairweather for repairs to the Academy.
Over $4,950 was, however, charged as paid
out between March 17th, 1818, and Dec,
26th, 1818, but thenceforward the amounts
decreased. Nevertheless, for four years after
the close of the school the disbursements
amounted to a yearly average of over
$1,500. The chief items of expenditure
were salaries, premiums to masters of the
indentured pupils, and the allowances of
clothing and food to the Indians. The sal-
aries included £50 stg. to the secretary-
treasurer, Judge Chipman; £125 atg. to

Gen. Coffin, who was superintendent till
1823; £30 currency per year till 1814, and
thereafter till 1825, £50 currency per year to
the Rev. Mr, Arnold, as missionary. Asis
stated elsewhere, the teacher received £16
currency per year down to 1815,
and for the next ten years £30 cur-
rency per annum. The premiums paid the
farmers to whom the children were
apprenticed varied from $40 to $120 per
year, probably with their age and capacity
to work; but generally $80 a year was paid
for each pupil. Most of the farmers had
only one or two ata time, but Mr. Arnold
seems to have undertaken his full share of
the duty of teaching the natives the art and
mystery of a farmer, and to have assumed
the burthen of instructing 4, 5, and even 7
of these children at atime. It is not stated
just what the ‘‘allowances” consisted of.

They were probably rations of food and other
necessaries distributed among the Indians.

There is some reason to suppose that these
were, partly at least, to compensate the natives
for the assistance their children might have
rendered them; but it is likely that the
bounty of the Institution attracted perman-
ently to this locality more of the natives
than could find sustenance hereabouts with
the means at their disposal and the exertions
they found it convenient to put forth. In
this way nearly $200 a year was distributed;
besides which, amounts varying from $100
to $180 per annum, are charged for clothing,
blankets, etc., puichased in St. John
for the use of the natives. The
tradition is that boxes of fine clothing
were also sent out to the Indians
every year from England. In only two or
three instances is any charge made for im-
plements furnished pupils whose terms had
expired, and for some reason or other the
majority of them do not appear to have
completed their apprenticeship so as to have
become entitled to the stock and tools men-
tioned in the indentures. Mr, Arnold, how-
ever, was in 1811 paid over £13 for the
articles furnished John Ketch Sis, being the
full amount mentioned in his indenture; and
in 1816 he received £8 103. for a cow and
calf supplied Peter Joe, an apprentice whose
term had expired.

The results of the academy were not
proving satisfactory to the company. As
early as 1821 some change had been pro-
posed, and inquiries had been made to Mr.
Leggett as to the consequent expense, but
he did not appear to understand just what
the officers of the company had in mind,

24 THE INDIAN COLLEGE.

He wrote, however, that he considered it
quite impracticable to have the children
live with their parents and attend the school
for the purpose of tuition only. The op-
portunity was embraced of appending to bis
letter a rider to the effect that the roof of
the academy then leaked so badly as to
render it necessary for the preserva-
tion of the building to put a new
one on at once, and that in consequence
of there being no woodland belonging to
the academy and no provision made for
rails, etc., the grounds of the institution
were lying ‘in common.” It is not known
what report Mr. Bromley made to the com-
pany, butin the summer of 1825 another
agent was sent to inspect the school. This
was the Rev. John West, A. M., a sturdy,
broad shouldered Englishman of medium
height and dark complexion, and also ap-
parently of a broad and catholic spirit. He
had been for three or four years chaplain of
the Hudson Bay company at the Red River
colony, and employed in laying the founda-
tions of the Northwest American mission.
On his return to England he was requested
by the N. E. company to undertake a mis-
sion to the Indians of New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia. He spent in Sussex the sum-
mer and part of the tall of 1825 and seems
also to have been there in April and June
of 1826. He at first preached occasionally
in Trinity church, butas his views and ob-
jects became known he was more and more
thrown into contact with the Dissenters, to
whom he frequently preached in barns and
school houses of out-lying settlements.
The results of his enquiries into the state of
the school in Sussex may be gathered from
the following extract from his Journal,
published in London in 1827:

‘In the hope of benefiting and improving
their condition an establishment was formed
in the valley by the New England company
soon after the tirst settlement of the prov-
ince, called ‘‘the academy for instructing
and civilizing the Indians.” It was _ liber-
ally placed by the incorporated society in
London under the management and direc-
tion of a board of commissioners that con-
sisted of the leading authorities of the prov-
ince. Little or no advantage however ac-
crued to the I[adians from those plans
which were adopted at the academy for
meliorating their state, and in the terms of
the charter, ‘‘To propagate and advance
the Christian and Protestant religion among
them.” For a series of years every attempt
failed in the way of effecting any permanent

change or providing any substantial good
among this degraded portion of our fellow
men; for after the company had incurred a
heavy expense they reverted to their mi-
gratory habits of life and again fell under
the influence of the Roman Catho-
lic priests, nor bas the more recent
plan of the establishment as recom-
mended to the society at home by
the board of commissioners in the province
been attended with much better sucess to-
wards civilizing and raising the Indians
in the moral scale of being. The principle
that was adopted of apprenticing their chil-
dren at an early age to different settlers I
found was not generally approved by the
Indians themselves, nor has the plan proved
beneficial to their morals. Under these cir-
cumstances the New England company have
resolved upon breaking up the establish-
ment, and would seek in the application of
their funds for further good than they had
heretofore met with among our red brethren
of the wilderness. It is not by such means,
however, nor any similar forced process
that has been acted upon, nor any means
that compel them to be ‘‘hewers of wood
and drawers of water” in a menial capacity,
that a just expectation can be raised of any
conversion in their state. Their naturally
high and independent spirit must be con-
sulted in the attempt to do them good; and
this is best done by encouraging them on all
favorable occasions to become settlers on
their own lands or lands which in common
justice should be assigned to them as the
original proprietors of the soil, &c., &c.”

Mr. West evidently considered that the
difficulty lay far beyond the remedy of any
change of mere detail or even of general
policy, and acting on this advice the com-
pany resolved in November, 1825, to close
the school. The establishment was accord-
ingly broken up at the end of the then
current year, March 24th, 1826, Mr.
Leggett was allowed an extra year’s
salary on quitting the premises. Ib
is likely that the company entirely
withdrew its grants at the expiration of
the indentures of apprenticeship entered
into before the close of the school. In
June, 1831, Mr. Arnold wrote Judge Chip-
man as fellows:

‘‘Those persons with whom the Indians
are still remaining are daily enquiring for
their vouchers for the last period, and I am
unable to give them any information, The
Iadians are also calling to enquire respect-
ing their own situation, and say if their

REV. OLIVER ARNOLD'S SUCCESSORS. 95

clothing and weekly allowances are stopped
that their children must immediately re-
turn to them. Should that be the case
there would be a manifest injustice done
their masters, as all expected tnat the last
year’s service would make part ot the com-
pensation for the care and expense of keep-
ing their children while in infancy.”

Lhe buildings were repaired and stood
for about twenty years longer. The prop-
erty was sold and became successively the
residence of Mr. Enoch Dole of Sussex,
and of Mr. Furniss, Mr. Jas. Robertson
and Mr. Henry Longmaid of Sc. John.
The latter conveyed the property to the late
Dr. Vail, who occupied it during the earlier
years of his practice.

The causes of the failure of this institu-
tion must be sought largely in the pecu-
liarities of the Indian character. There is

no doubt that, for the most part at least,
those who had charge of the school honest-
ly and earnestly endeavored to make it a
success and a benefib to the Indians; but
even Mr. West, who was probably correct
in some of his criticisms on the manage-
ment, appears to have been unable to sug-
gest any plan by which the advantage accru-
ing might be commensurate with the cost.

Tne greater proportion of the Indians de-
parted from Sussex soon after their allow-
ances ceased, and all speedily abandoned the
church which had made such exertions and
outlay for their civilization and conversion;
and, indeed, but for the pathetic little
wooden crosses in Ward’s Creek cemetery,
one would now hardly know that the few
Indians remaining in this vicinity had ever
heard of Christianity.

‘The Rectors of Sussex.

The following is a brief account of the
gentlemen who succeeded the Rev. Oliver
Arnold as rectors of Sussex:

Horatio Nelson Arnoold was born at Sus-
sex, N. B., on the 2lst of December, 1799,
the third son and sixth child of the Rev.
Oliver Arnold. He received his primary
education at the S. P. G School in Sussex,
and in 1815 entered Kiaog’s College, Wind-
sor, Nova Scotia. The students then at
this institution were less distinguished for
their numbers than they afterwards became
for their success in life. A few of these
may be mentioned,

Thomas Chandler Haliburton, the future
Judg2 of the Supreme Court of N. S., aushor
of “Sam Slick” and member of the English
House of Commons, took the degree of B.
A. the year Mr. Arnold entered. Neville
Parker, Master of the Rolls, graduated in
1816, John W. D. Gray, fortwenty-eight years
Rector of Trinity Church, St. Jonn, and
James Boyle Uniacke, some time Attorney
General of Nova Scotia and Member of
Council, completed their college course a
year in advance of Mr. Arnold. The latter
graduated as B. A. in 1819, in company
with Lewis M. Wilkins (who matriculated

with him, and became Judge of
the Supreme Court of Nova _ Scotia),
and EK. A. Orawley, who had en-
tered in 1816, and was subs quently

80 prominently connected with Acadia col-
lege and with the Baptist denomination.
George McCawley, the future president of
Kings, entered asa student there in 1817.

After Mr. Arnold’s graduation he taught
school for some time, being for a while in
charge of the Grammar school at Frederic-
ton. He took the degree of master of arts
at King’s in1825. It is not exactly known
when or where he was ordained, but the
tradition is that he undertook the long and
toilsome journey to Montreal for the pur-
pose of being ordainedby the Bishop of Que-
bec. Dr. Stanser, who in 1816 succeeded
Dr. Chas. Ioglis as Bishop of Nova scotia,
shortly after his consecration removed to
England on the ground of ill health, and the
diocese remained without a resident bishop
until the appointment of Dr. John [oglis in
1824. The first Bishop of Quebec had been
consecrated in 1793.

In 1823 Mr. Arnold was appointed S. P. G,
missionary at Granville, N.S. His residence
was about two miles above the present

26 THE RECTORS OF SUSSEX.

village of Granville Ferry, but his parish ex-
tended from Digby Gut to Bridgetown.
Soon after removing to Granville he was
married, Oct. 30th, 1823, at the Parish
Church in Falmouth, N.S., by Dr. John
Inglis, to Catharine, second daughter ot the
Rev. Dr. Cochran, vice-president of Kings
College; and, she having died soon after, he
was married on the 29ch of January, 1826,
av St. Luke’s church, Annapolis, by the
Rev. Mr. Millidge, to Georgiana, fourth
daughter of the late Thomas Williams, Com-
missary and Store-keeper at Annapolis
Royal. In December, 1828, he removed to
Sussex as assistant to his father, and on the
death of the latter in 1834 he became Mis-
sionary there under the S. P.G. In this
year he reported that he had been but one
Sunday absent from his parish during the
year 1833, and that wasin an exchange of
duty with the Rev. W. Walker of Hampton.

His stated plans for ministerial duty were
as follows:—On Sunday morning he always
officiated at the parish church; the afternoon
was devoted to four different stations which
he visited in rotation. Abt these stations he
commenced his routine of duty in the spring,
as soon asthe state of the travelling per-
mitted, and continued it until the roads be-
came impassable in the Autumn; but he also
gave occasional services at these places in
the winter, as the days got long enough to

allow of it, and before the winter
roads broke up. Ib was his usual
practice to visit twice during the
year each family within reason-

able distance of the church, but to those
more remotely situated his calls were less
frequent. All his travelling was done on
horseback and he was very often accom-
panied by Mrs. Arnold,

He also reports a Sunday school as in oper-
ation in 1833, but great difficulty was ex-
perienced in procuring suitable teachers, to
which circumstance he attributed the lack
of greater success. He was present at the
establishment of the Diocesan Church Soci-
ety in Fredericton, September 8th, 1836, and
he ever afterwards exerted himself faithfully
to promote the interests of that organization.
The first church ap Apohaqui was com-
pleted by him in 1839 and; consecrated by
Bishop John Inglis, September 14th, 1841.
He thoroughly repaired the Parish Church
at Sussex in 1843. In 1845 the church at
English Settlement was so far advanced
that the D.C. S. granted him £15 ‘‘to be
paid on certificate of its being fit for Divine
Sarvice.” In 1847 he seems to have made

some attempt to begin a church at Dutch
Valley (Waterford), but in consequence of
his death the edifice was not built till sev-
eral years later.

In the fall of 1847 Mr. Arnold’s mind be-
came seriously affected. The last entry in
the parish register of ministerial duty
performed by him, is a record of baptism on
the 19th of December, 1847. In the follow-
ing winter he was removed to an asylum in
Boston, where he died on the 8th of Decem-
ber, 1848. His family had in the meantime
removed to St. John, and his remains were
interred there on the 17th of December, 1848.
He left five children, of whom theeldest, Fen-
wick Williams, died shortly after beginning
practice as a physician in St. John, and the
fourth, named for his father, died in Austra-
lia. O. Roswell Arnold, Esq., of Sussex;
Mrs. Charlotte Frith of Calgary, and R.
Heber Arnold, Esq., of St. John, still ,sur-
vive.

In person the second rector of Sussex was
rather spare and above the average height,
though not quite so tallas his father. He
was dark, almost swarthy, in complexion,
and of a serious cast of countenance; but of
a very affable and pleasant manner, and of
a most kind and amiable disposition. It has
been remarked of him that he had not an
enemy in the world. As a clergyman he
was distinguished for his eloquence,
his fervent piety and a supreme sense
of the responsibilities of his office; and it is
safe to say that no religious teacher in Sus-
sex has ever been more earnest and sympa-
thetic in his efforts to promote the best in-
terests of his people, or more generally be-
loved and deeply regretted by all who knew
him.

The third rector of Sussex ‘was the Rev.
Thomas McGhee. He was not, as has been
sometimes stated, a native of Ireland; but
was born at Cambridge, England, on the
27cthof July, 1816 The family name was
properly McGhee-Keith, and it is yet so
written by some of the connection; bun the
“Keith” was dropped by Mr. McGhee’s
father, who was a banker of Cambridge,
Two of his brothers, Malcolm and Charles,
were also clergymen of the Church of Eng-
land; the latter is still living, and is
rector of a parish near Bristol, Eng,

Mr. McGhee received his collegiate edu-
cation at King’s College, Cambridge; and
was ordained deacon, May 22nd, 1842, in
St. Paul’s Cathedral, by the Rb. Rev.
James Blomfield, Bishop of London.
He landed at St, John on the Qth of

MR. McGHEE AND MR. BLISS. 27

September, 1842, and a fortnight afterwards
commenced his missionary duties in
Campobello. On June 30th, 1843, he be-
came Curate to the Rev. Dr. Alley at St.
Andrews; and on the 2ad of July, 1844, he
was married in Trinity church, Sv. John, to
Amelia Jane, daughter of Ralph M. Jarvis,
Ksq., of that city, and sister of the Rev. G.
S. Jarvis, D. D., late Rural Dean of Shediac.
He was ordained priestby Bishop Medley on
the 10th of August, 1845,in Sb. Paul’s
church, Grand Manan; and on the 30th of
the following September he entered upon his
duties as Rector of St. Martins and Upham.

During the melancholy illness of Mr.
Arnold he had been occasionally called upon
to take duty in Sussex; and onthe 4th of
October, 1848, he was appointed Rector of
that parish. He preached his introductory
sermon there on the 29th of October, 1848,
and was formally inducted by the Rev. Dr.
Jarvis on the 18th of January, 1851. His
first duty as Rector of Sussex which is re-
corded in the parish register is a marriage,
Dec. 28th, 1848; his last is a baptism on
Dec. 3rd, 1861.

The church av Waterford (contemplated
inthe time of his predecessor) was built
during Mr. McGhee’s incumbency, and he
also repaired the parsonage. Bsing very
fond of music, he reorganized and much im-
proved the choir, and introduced the new
Diocesan Hymn Book then lately compiled
by Bishop Medley.
te Mr. McGhee died on the 18th of Decem-
ber 1861, in the 46th year of his age and
the fourteenth year of his ministry at Sus-
sex. His remains repose in the cemetery
near Upper Corner, Sussex.

He had eight children—four boys and
four girls, of whom the following are now
living, viz: Agnes, wife of Mr. W. G.
Harrison, of St. John, north; Aunie E. L.
wife of Mr.C. E. L. Jarvis, of St. John;
Caroline Jane, now living in Boston, and
Leonard Jarvis, who resides in Halifax,

N.S

Mr. McGhee was very genial and popu-
lar, a Low Churchman, and in full sympathy
with the Orange Body. He wasrather un-
der than above the medium height, thick
set, and somewhat inclined to stoutness,
but very quick and active in his move-
ments. His complexion was florid; his hair
abundant, wavy, and dark auburn in color.
His forehead was high and intellectual, and
his voice extraordinarily full, rich and
musical. A most beautiful reader, and an
excellent singer. he withal preached particu-

larly instructive and impressive sermons;
and his sermons were as attractive to the
intellects as they were edifying to the souls
of his hearers.

The Rev. Charles Parke Bliss, fourth rec-
tor of Sussex, was born at Fredericton, N.
B., on the 25th day of July, 1825. He was
the son of George Pidgeon Bliss, late Re-
ceiver General of the province, and Sarah
Wetmore, his wife. They had a large fam-
ily, which also included the Rev. Donald
M. Bliss of Westmorland, Thomas W.
Bliss, formerly registrar of deeds for Kent
county, and George J. Bliss, late clerk
of the house of assembly.

Mr. Bliss graduated at the University of
King’s College, Fredericton, as B. A. in
1845, and proceeded to the degree of M. A.
in 1849,

In August, 1848, he was ordained Deacon
by Bishop Medley at the Cathedral in Fred-
ericton, in which city he remained for a
while as assistant to His Lordship in the
Church of Sp. Ann’s. He was admitted to
the Priesthood the following year.

His first parish was that of Harvey and
Hopewell, in Albert Oo., where he continued
till 1853. His next parochial charge was
Springfield, in Kiags County, from which,
in the winter of 1862, he came to Sussex.
His first duty recorded in the Sussex Regis-
ter was a baptism on the 22nd of March,
1862; his last was also a baptism, which
took place March 19th, 1867.

Daring his stay in Sussex he suffered con-
siderably from throat trouble, which seri-
ously affected his voice. His increasing
infirmities at Jast compelled his resignation
of this parish, and in the spring of 1867 he
removed to Oitawa, where he became pri-
vate secretary to the Honorable S. L. Tilley,
C. B., Minister of Customs. This position
he occupied until his death.

He continued, however, to take ministeri-
al duty, and for the last two or three years
before his death he was assistant priest at
St. Alban’s Church in Ottawa, He died
at his residence there on Thursday, the
2lst day of November, 1872, in the 47th
year of his age.

Mr. Bliss was married at Trinity Church,
St. John, N. B., November 17th, 1849, by
Bishop Medley, to Dorothy Ann, only
daughter of Charles Vaughan Forster, Keq.,
formerly of the Royal Navy and late comp:
troller of customs in that city.

He had six sons and one daughter. The
second son, the Rev. C. V. F. Bliss, is a

28 THE RECTORS OF SUSSEX.

clergyman of the Church of England, a rural
dean of the diocese of Oatario, and a most
earnest, faithful, and successful parish
priest. The third son, John Murray Bliss,
was one of the N. W. M. police appointed
in 1872.

Physically Mr. Bliss was above the aver-
age in size and strength, being about five
feet eleven in height. He was of a light
complexion, and wore a full beard. He was
@ man of good ability and an earnest and
forcible speaker. He was greatly interested
in the confederation of the B. N. A. colon-
ies, and gave that measure his hearty sup-
port. He was also much interested in agri-
culture, an ardent advocate of temperance,
and an earnest member of the Orange
order, being for three successive terms
Provincial Grand Master for N. B. He was
likewise a zealous Freemason, one of the
early members of Zion Lodge, No. 21, and
also for some time Grand Chaplain for N. B.

To Mr. Bliss succeeded the Rev. Charles
Steinkopff Medley. He was the third son of
the Rt. Rev. John Medley, first Bishop of
Fredericton, by his first wife, Christiana,
daughter of one and granddaughter of the
other of the celebrated sculptors named
John Bacon, whose works still grace Sb.
Paul’s Cathedral. He was born on the 16th
of September, 1835, in his father’s first
charge, St. John’s Parish, Truro, in the
County of Cornwall, England. Remaining
in England when, in 1845, immediately after
being consecrated, the Bishop came to New
Brunswick, he received his early education
at Marlborough College, in Wiltshire.
He removed to this country in 1855,
and finished his secular studies at the
Uaiversity of New Bruaswick, then
Kings college, and graduated there as B. A.
in 1858. Having studied theology privately
with his father he was ordained deacon in
1859, and priest in June, 1860. His first
charge was the mission of Duuglas in’ York
county, N,B. Here he remained fitteen
moaths and then returned for a time to
Fredericton as assistant to the bishop in the
cathedral. In April, 1864, he married
Charlotte, daughter of Rubert Bird, Esq,
of Birdton, in the parish of Douglas,
Soon afterwards he removed to St. Johns,
Newfoundland, and for three years was
incumbent of St. Mary’s church in that
city, On the resignation of Mr. Bliss he
came back to New Brunswick as rector of
Sussex, and as such preached his first ser-
mon there on Trinity Sunday, 1867. A year
or two after his return he was appointed a

canon of the cathedral, and in 1880 he be-
came rural dean of Kingston deanery.

While in many respects the lines fell to
him in pleasanter places than to the early
missionaries, it is doubtfulif any of them
surpassed Mr. Medley in zeal and love for
the church to which he devoted his life. It
is to his indefatigable labors that Trinity
church owes much of her present prosperity.
His first task was to rebuild the Parsonage,
which had been burnt during the incum-
bency of his peedecessor. Next he erected
the Church of the Ascension at Apoha-
qui. The old church here had long been
vut of repair and too cold for use in the
winter season; but in 1872 Mr. Medley was
able to report to the D.C.S that after nine
months’ worshipping in a barn and in the
railway station, this church had been newly
consecrated.

Old Trinity Church at the Upper Corner
was now quite unfit to accommodate the con-
gregation worshipping there, and indeed for
some time a new edifice, there had been al-
most a necessity. The people, however, had
unfortunately not been able to agree upon
the site for the new building; but after con-
siderable discussion as to whether the old
site should be adhered to or one chosen
nearer the village that had grown up around
the railway station, it was decided to build
where the church now stands. This being
part of the land conveyed by the Hon.
ueorge Leonard fora Glebe, the requisite
legislation was obtained in 1873, and the
same year the foundations were laid and
the work was so energetically push-
ed that on the 24th of Febru-
ary, 1874, the church was sufficiently
advanced to be consecrated. Shortly after-
wards the building was completed and fin-
ished. Ib is not necessary to describe in
detail an edifice so widely known, and
which for nearly 30 years has stood nob
only an ornament to Sussex, but a memo-
rial to the z2a! and taste of the late Rector
and the pusrishioners who so heartily co-
operated with him. But even this achieve-
ment did not end Mr. Medley’s efforts to
provide his people with chaste, commodious
and comfortable places of worship; and he
lived not only to improve the church at
Waterford, but also practically to complete
St. Agnes’, at Mt. Middleton, in the Parish
of Studholm, the foundation stone of which
was laid on Tuesday, the 22ad day of May,
1888,

Mc. Medley was reputed a good scholar
and a well read theologian. Fond of music

a aoe aS ik: Moheceeee ; “4
a ae em ie oar ¥ 67 tears aeeteeo oh . Toe} ee > F . a2
pa age Heer ok: ¥ er them 5. Ist a ne io eagh ecuit ex ; i. ie : :

: tein ragn hae oa Str. mek ee He hee my US prune

at Pete wre; tit antepaiseets 3 et ye Eros Ee-te e a
fe ree. * in sapere bee prix ES iF 3 “be . tetas? ther ety p « ‘ shi".
ca oe ee mae akenonn’ EET SAR re Dae ae AGE PEE 6

age ee ae ee Ape 8% nhs See a Sie

ve Bercy Ube mee Wpanie' in: 1 sts naan (eb BREE oho | Len in
re aa ey ehiapi pies! sie hee et} ‘ Sse +% oot a p pares, - kone ca by

cae uno Sy Bee ec

oe bite sa-< ve
i; Sig hce

uD ss sar teh nok ay 4
SiS ee eae «Mh. se)

aint tha Ate:

a AE wii oh signs

: ; eet: “epee ties

rs Cy bad bess Pe

Se . 5 ta NG vot

Pet cer, for HAAR. <4

re EN 1eto'~@ RTS.
a ud (Re ue ‘se Pe » £:

Nie . 4, Om — ‘ on

‘ € a ae rebel

EBS The i oa ‘ds :
A Ate, Jy ¥ ontetks
WE... fs Aas.’ in)

© ae alae) i Ngee ee
Pe re . at. a

i Pee he oh y Ester

nega cS iele, ee ees

gia ‘Kos: ik
. 1 Fad 2m

$25) es wi pee AM
F i ibe nud pit pany.
Pe ee
at i ee 1; % Gtk’ ne ba a}
a Bins tee 0
Ay "oe mee ee rhe
4 4 Peas 2 "A
* Feat RA er i peel
ist grew Tate, ee bi tad
- +:° wane ae Spe et: iy

a:
‘

eas”! WReveg Eine xed Q 7 eh ict Sahil
ss ig ee Be a, Perea Wish & pox q date a
ae a eye Te ‘hie as ule, WORE nets ¢ Chatlibvcd tnd ~ oselii
ee Ay hoe Ye bag oe = ee oi - hy by ie a we es 1%, =
pine «: ipa WER Laie Wehcmnt PY Mes entar, ° rail cae
oe ee Any ad oe Paar: ma i fee Leto ueravt ap F eins . acta
Beis) Se ieee liviely went ye anne er oh ee
ina e Wap antts Oa, Catayis ip 02 natin
& be amino eb dibs ta. dow +o Reelin
ia Apri wre owrttayinary iy 2 Sa 5 Miia?
Peavtee scinct her hins abit bey SERS oy

‘
: '

4
~

+

:

~
aa

*
“@
ra

TRINITY CHURCH, SUSSEX.

MR. MEDLEY AND MR. LITTLE. 29

and possessed of a correct ear and a refined
taste, he did much to increase the love of
his parishioners for sacred song; and not
resting satisfied with the introduction into
his church of improved music and bymns,
nor with the personal and persistent train-
_ ing of his own choir, he succeeded by form-
ing Glee clubs, and particularly by organ-
izing the Chora) Union of Kingston Deanery,
in exetnding a most ealutary influence far
beyond his own congregation.

He was a member of the Royal Arcanum
and a Past Master of Zion Lodge, No. 21,
F. & A. M.; and also Past Grand Chap-
lain of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick.

He was enthusiastically fond of out-door
sports, especially cricket. This game seems
to have been, indeed, the indirect cause of
his death. A severe blow £from a cricket
ball left a bruise on his face which devel-
oped intoa cancer. An operation failed to
remove the roots of this dread disease, and
after a lingering illness and much suffering,
borne, with Christian resignation, he expir-
ed on the 25:h day of August, 889, leaving
his widow surviving, but no children.

The following summary of Mr. Medley’s
character is taken from the number for No-
vember, 1889, of the magazine which some
six years before he had, established for the
Deanery of Kingston:

‘*In each of the several spheres of duty to
which he was called in the good providence
of God, he proved himself ‘an able minister
of the New Testament,’and a faithful son of
the Church of Eogland, and a wise and lov-
ing pastor of souls. All his gifts, and they
were of no ordinary kind, were consecrated
to Christ and His church, never employed
for his own self-advancement, Generous,
affectionate, sympathetic, his ear was open
to every tale of woe, and his band out-
stretched for the relief of the needy and
distressed. No presence so welcome as his
in time of rejoicing, no voice more consoling
in the hour of sorrow and bereavement.
How well remembered will be his ministra-
tions in the house of God. How grave
and solemn his demeanor; how plain,
earnest, and forcible, how in:
teresting and instructive were his sermons,
his rich, melodious voice lending a peculiar
charm to all he said. Ina the celebration of
the Divine Mysteries, and in all the cffises
of religion, the deepest reverence marked
his every action, as became a faithful priest
in the temple of the most high God. His
refined taste in music and architecture gave
him a singular advantage in building

churches, and in elevating the character of
Divine worship, not only in his own parish,
but throughout the Deanery of Kingston.
That such an one should be personally popu-
lar with the clergy of all schools of thought,
and that he should have received marks of
his diocesan’s favor, and _ his _breth-
ren’s affection and confidence, can-
not, surely, awaken any surprise. The
unabimous choice of the clergy, he filled
the office of Rural Dean of Kingston for
many years, with no less credit to himself
than advantage to the Deanery. Mainly
owing to his wise and able administration
the Deanery has attained a degree of effi-
ciency which is not surpassed, if, indeed, it
be equalled by any other. Selected from
among theclergy by the unanimous voice
of clergy and laity in the Synod assembled,
he always discharged his duties of Secre-
tary with equal ability and courtesy. It is
not easy to estimate the loss which the parish
of Sussex and the Deanery of Kingston, the

Synod and the church in the whole diocese

have sustained by his death.”

The Rev. Henry William Little, sixth
Rector of Sussex,{was born January 23rd,
1848, at Terrington, King’s Lynn, Norfolk,
England. His father was head master for
forty years of the High School in that place.
Five of his pupils became clergymen, and
several distinguished at the bar and in the
army. Three of his sons are in Holy Orders
of the Church of England and ail are bene-
ficed clergymen.

Mr. Little received his early education
from Rev. R. A. Whalley, son of the mis-
sionary who succeeded the Rev. H N.

Arnold at Granville. Having graduated
at Cambridge, Mr. Whalley became
Classical Master of the King KEd-

ward’s Grammar School at King’s Lynn,
and curate in charge of the village of Ter-
rington. From his care Mr. Little proceed-
ed to St. Augustine’s College, Canterbury,
where, after a four years’ course, he gradu-
ated and received his diploma and the special
hood granted by his grace the archbishop to
the students of that institution who pass
their course with honors. He was-ordained
at Winchester Cathedral on Trinity Sunday,
1874, by the Rt. Rev. Harold Brown, D.D,
Lord Bishop of Winchester, the well known
author of the Commentary on the 39 Articles,
Heimmediately went to Madagascar in com-
pany with Dr. Cornish,'bishop of that island,
and several other clergymen, for the purpose
of opening up missions in that island
Having reached Madagascar inSeptember of

80 THE RECTORS OF SUSSEX.

1874, he took charge of the east or outside
coast, where the climate was so bad that no
English clergyman had hitherto been able
to continue except for afew months. He
remained there for six years, in the course
of which he organized fourteen stations, and
built Sv. James’ Church at Andevoranto,
the old Arab Slave Market of the East
Coast. This was the first consecrated church
in Madagascar, largely built and beau-
tifully finished, with a nave, choir and chan-
cel holding eight hundred people. His
congregations there included 500 natives,
chiefly slaves and slave holders and sol-
diers of the Hova garrison of the place.

He had more than one interview with the
Prime Minister of the Capital ot the Island,
and assisted in passing a law for compul-
sory education, for which efforts he re-
ceived the thanks of the Government as
well as the Queen. He resigned his work
in the island at the end of 1879, and re-
turned to England, and after some months
spent at Oxford took charge of the parish of
Cheadle, the populous suburb of Manchester,
the rector of that parish having received
leave of absence for a year. He then had,
for nearly two years, sole charge of the par-
ish of Healey Masham, York, in the diocese
of Ripon.

In 1882 he was called to take part in the
great London mission, organized by Bishop
Temple, when he labored in the parish of
Regent Square, London, with the Rev HE.
Steele, Rector of St. Neot’s, Cornwall,as Co-
missioner, Having settled at Forest Hill,

near Crystal palace, he officiated as curate
in charge of St. Paul’s in that place and as-
sisted in the church of St. George’s, Perry
Hill. Afterwards, by special license of the
Bishop of Rochester, he acted as curate of
the Rev. E. Robinson of St. Lawrence,
Catford.

Having accepted acall to Canada, he
sailed from Liverpool on the 5th of Decem-
ber, 1889, and reached Fredoricton in time
to take part in the services at the cathedral
on Christmas day. He was licensed by the
Bishop of Fredericton on December 26th,
1889, and instituted to Sussex on Friday,
23rd of January, 1890, and inducted on the ©
following Monday.

Mr. Little is the author of several works,
biographical and theological. One volume of
his sermons, published by Skeffingtons,
London, reached the fourth edition; and
another, ‘‘Arrows for the King’s Archers,”
has been recently pubiished by Thos, Whit-
taker & Co., Bible House, N. Y.

[The writer desires to thank all
whose information has assisted him in pre-
paring the foregoing article. Besides var-
ious members of the different families men-
tioned, he is particularly indebted to the
Rev. W. O. Raymond, rector of St. Mary’s
church, St. John, N. B.; the Rev. K. B.
Glidden, late pastor of the Congregational
church, Mansfield Centre, Conn.; Mr. Ray
Greene Huling, of New Bedford, Mass., and
Mr. Robert S. Barker of the Crown Land
Office, Fredericton, N. B.]

ERRATUM.—-The word ‘‘appointed” in the tenth line on page 9 should be ‘‘ordained.”

PuRCHASED__77 4 (as [216
4 |

hip ,

FROM dk-K ky OA

PLACE OF PURCHASE L417
be

PRICE cv

LATER CATALOGUED PRICES